Uncommon Images

INSPIRE Erwin Blumenfeld ( 1897- 1968) was an American photographer of German origin. He was born in Berlin, and in 1941 emigrated to the United States, where he soon became a successful and well-paid fashion photographer, working as a free-lancer for Harper’s Bazaar, Life and American Vogue. Born to a Jewish middle class family in Berlin in 1897, Erwin Blumenfeld received his first camera when he was 10 years old and started photographing and developing films in his parent’s bathroom. After his service in World War I, he moved to Amsterdam, where he became part of the Dada art movement, alongside artist Paul Citroen and George Grosz. His autobiography “Eye to I” was published posthumously in the United States (Thames & Hudson 1999; the original German title is “Einbildungsroman”). “Photography is so easy a medium to use, the box camera, a roll of film, a snap – a picture! Photography, the art, is so immensely difficult because it is so easy to get a picture of sorts. One must work hard to smuggle anything into a photograph other than record keeping.” Sources - Yatzer, Erwinblumenfeld.com , Fritzaschersociety.org [ Fashion Photography History Erwin Blumenfeld Art Impressionism Abstract Vogue Harper Bazaar Painters Dada Movement Model Photography Poses ]

Carried close by Janvi Bhardwaj ( @janvi_jbh ) As a child, I remember my grandfather carrying not a wallet, but a small stack of notes held together, and within it, a tiny black-and-white photograph of my grandmother. It wasn’t framed, preserved, or displayed. It was simply kept close. This memory stayed with me. Over time, I began to notice how this quiet gesture echoed in different forms, through cinema, through people, through everyday rituals of love. The act of carrying a small photograph of someone you love folded, worn, quietly resting in a wallet feels like an intimate archive of emotion. It is not performative, not curated. It simply exists, deeply personal and often unseen. This project began with a question: “Do people still carry photographs of their loved ones?” In her ongoing archival project Janvi is collecting images from strangers. These images are not always technically perfect, neither are they necessarily “good photographs” in the conventional sense - but they hold something far more powerful. ‘Carried Close’ is not just about photographs. It is about what we choose to hold onto. And how even the smallest image can carry immense emotional weight. Follow @janvi_jbh To submit your project visit uncommonstudio.in [ Mix media Art Archiving Photographs Albums Photos Love Vintage ] #mixmedia #art #indianartists #print #photos

The weight of quiet things by Bharat Kethana (@bhharattt ) There exists a silence that most people recognize, but rarely speak about. It arrives in ordinary moments, between conversations, in dimly lit rooms, in the pause before sleep. It is not dramatic, not loud, not visible, and yet it lingers. It stretches and settles into the body like something unfinished. This series traces that shared, unspoken experience. The images do not attempt to document reality as it is seen, but as it is felt. Forms dissolve, light fractures, and the familiar becomes uncertain, because the inner world rarely appears in sharp focus. What we carry within is layered, shifting, and often contradictory. Through processes of exposure and re-exposure, these photographs move away from clarity and toward resonance. They suggest that no single frame is ever complete on its own, just as no single moment fully contains what a person feels. The figure, when it appears, is not an individual but a presence, something anyone can inhabit. It stands in for the quiet weight people learn to carry: thoughts that cannot be easily named, emotions that resist resolution, and the subtle tension between being seen and remaining unknown. Light in these images does not simply illuminate. It interrupts, obscures, and sometimes overwhelms, mirroring the way certain memories or feelings surface without warning. Shadows do not hide; they hold. Photography here becomes less about capturing the external world and more about negotiating with the internal one. It becomes a way of giving shape to what is otherwise intangible, of holding, however briefly, the quiet things that slip through language. In the end, what we often remember is not what was clearly seen, but what was deeply felt and never fully understood. Follow Bharat’s work @bhharattt To submit follow @uncommon.images and visit uncommonstudio.in [ Photo stories documentation Indian art photographer Fine Art Editing ] #photography #photostories #indianphotographer

Raghu Rai (1942 - 2026) And the photos shall live on… Rest in peace legend, you lived a great life. “They say a good photograph is worth a thousand words, but a thousand words can be a lot of noise. How about some silence?” - Raghu Rai Raghu Rai’s portrait shot by Shome Basu #raghurai #photography #magnum [ Raghu Rai Indian Photographer Magnum ]

‘ Lugdi ke Phool’ by Avinash Meena (@avinash_tamdiya ) is a photographic series centered on women in rural Rajasthan, particularly those engaged in agricultural and domestic labor. The project reflects on their strength, independence, and quiet joy. Rather than presenting staged or performative moments, the images observe women as they exist within their everyday lives. Through this series, I attempt to capture how these women carry their dignity and happiness with a quiet grace — wearing it like a crown amidst the demands of daily life. To submit your work visit uncommonstudio.in #photography #photostories [ Photography Community Rajasthan Women Culture Textile Art Jaipur Documentation Rural India ]

Bonita by @pandey.akanksha follows a transgender person in transition, supported closely by the women in their family. Central to the series is the sister, who adopts a more masculine presence as a form of protection and emotional grounding. The work challenges narratives of isolation and instead foregrounds collective care, showing how gender roles within the family are restructured to enable healing. The second series, photographed in Mahabalipuram, presents portraits of members of the Kinner community. Here, matriarchy exists beyond biological lineage. Kinship is self-authored and gender identity is lived within communal frameworks of support. The portraits focus on dignity, presence, and agency. Together, the projects consider gender as a negotiated space shaped by protection, solidarity, and chosen belonging. Across both series, I approach the body as an archive and site of resistance. [ Gender Rights Community India Photography Project Story Transgender Documentation Intimate Personal Life Portraits ] To submit your work, visit our website.

Street to Studio and a zine pop up @studio.3fold Day 1 — We explored the streets, photographed, curated, and printed small accordion zines. Day 2 — We exhibited the work our participants created during the workshop alongside a collection of zines, some of which were generously donated to us. Zine Contributors: @bubble_weather @fridabraide @hemantbasankar @saurabhw_ @filmamu @jimbhaai @akshaykapoooor @matratype @bilvdoshi_2458 @wuthipol.designs @texturesandpictures @vishvadeepp @mannn_badlani Independent Magazines: @dhoop.mag @tangerinemag.art @turmericmagazine @framelinesmag @yourlocalnewsstand @bumpbooks Workshop & Curation: @hunnyawatramani @uncommon.images Printing: @brijktrivedi @studio.3fold Exhibition Design: @its.pooja.shah [Zine Ahmedabad Print Media Photography Community Photowalk Workshop Curation Exhibition Design Graphics Art] Long Live Print ❣️

Come for a Photowalk and create your own accordion fold zine. What’s more is that it doesn’t just end there, display your work with other artists from across India. Saturday 7th March, 2026 8:30am - 3:30pm Studio 3fold, Ahmedabad Limited seats only! Comment “PRINT” below to get the registration link !!! Please note that this event includes printing cost and a custom case that comes along the final zine. Event organisers - @studio.3fold @uncommon.images @brijktrivedi @hunnyawatramani Exhibition designer - @its.pooja.shah [ Zines Photowalk Photographers Ahmedabad Event Weekend Plans Print ]

👋🏻 We’re opening up the space to a growing collection of independent zines submitted by you. Join us for a zine exhibition at Studio 3Fold, featuring: • A curated collection of zines from our community submitted by you! • Zines produced during our Street to Studio workshop ( to be held on 7th March) • An open display celebrating print 🗓 Exhibition Dates: 8th – 9th March 2026 🕛 Visiting Hours: 12:00 PM – 7:00 PM You can also print your own small zine on the spot at the venue (₹350 — template provided by us). Curated & managed by @hunnyawatramani @brijktrivedi Exhibition design & Identity by @its.pooja.shah Come spend the evening with print @studio.3fold [ Ahmedabad Events Art Community Print Photography Zines Exhibition]

As if nothing has happened by Ralph Steinegger @_ralphs_ All photographs in this series were taken during and shortly after the pandemic. Image titles are taken from Chinese propaganda slogans. 1. The path to the dream is under your feet 2. Let the civilisation shine into every valley 3. Let us march forward 4. Seek truth from facts 5. Harmonious Society 6. To win while laying flat is not possible 7. Prevent harmful culture from eroding young people 8. Development is the hard truth 9. Hear the noiseless and see the shapeless To submit follow @uncommon.images and check out uncommonstudio.in

Hello Zine Creators, Would you like your zine to be featured alongside other independent artists? Don’t miss this opportunity. We at @uncommon.images are hosting a one-day Zine Exhibition on 8th March 2026 at @studio.3fold , Ahmedabad from 12pm - 7pm IST For this edition, the submission deadline is 6th March 2026. That said, there is no strict long-term deadline, as the exhibition will be a recurring initiative and we regularly host such events at our studio. Event managed by: @hunnyawatramani @brijktrivedi @its.pooja.shah We look forward to seeing your work. Dm to know shipping details. [ Photo Zine Creators Artists Photography Street Gallery Exhibition Ahmedabad India Event Curation Publishing Photobooks ]

Under Which Tree Did Goethe Sleep? By Ugo Milano (@ugo_ml ) Where do unspoken thoughts, unrealized ideas, and suspended reveries go and can they leave traces in the physical world?In Under Which Tree Did Goethe Sleep?, a mysterious 19th-century manuscript by a pseudo scientist, Johann Friedrich von W., proposes the existence of the "Mentisphera": an intermediate reality where the ideas of writers and scientists who shaped Göttingen become tangible. The manuscript also describes a secret optical device-the Mentispeculum-capable of revealing this hidden layer of the world. Guided by this fictional document, the photographer (a former literature student) wanders through Göttingen, photographing places, fragments, and encounters with local figures who seem to guard clues to the Mentisphera. Blending contemporary photographs with archival traces and invented documents, the project unfolds as a hybrid photo-literary narrative-part investigation, part reverie. The work currently exists as a first dummy book prototype, accompanied by a booklet reproducing the manuscript and its “theory.” To submit your story visit uncommonstudio.in [ Photo Stories Series Photography Abstract Documentation Curation Uncommon Submissions Discover Read Artist Fictional ]