# Nav Chatterji My archive of curiosity and life. This archive contains photography, experiments, finds and life. Image and work credits remain with each entry. Recorded dates have no inferred publication or creation meaning. [Back to the visual feed](/) · [Structured archive](/archive.json) ## [Always Be Playing.](/posts/always-be-playing/) Category: Photography Recorded date: 2013-10-17 (day precision) ![People playing on a sand dune beneath a wide sky.](/assets/photography/standardized/desktop/01-always-be-playing-jaipur-desktop.jpg) One of my favourite shots, taken on a family trip to Rajasthan. I caught a group of local kids playing cricket on a sand dune just outside Jaipur. I love the composition, but mostly just how much fun they were having. No proper pitch or fancy gear. Just a few friends who wanted to play. I have it framed as a reminder to take life lightly and keep wanting to play. ## [Monochrome Cube.](/posts/monochrome-cube/) Category: Finds Recorded date: 2012-02-28 (day precision) ![Konstantin Datz's Rubik's Cube design with white raised-dot tiles and a black grid on a gray surface.](/assets/finds/04-rubiks-cube-desktop-zoomout-v2.jpg) Konstantin Datz’s Braille Rubik’s Cube is one of my favourite finds. I keep this feed black and white. To me, it’s simply easier to take in. Here, touch replaces colour, yet the form itself needs no explanation. A classic puzzle rethought for people who can’t rely on sight to solve it. And somehow, it feels like a little physical version of this whole feed. ## [Neha.](/posts/neha-wedding/) Category: Life Recorded date: 2019-11 (month precision) ![Neha putting on her nath while getting ready for our wedding in November 2019. Photograph by Radhika Agarwal.](/assets/photography/neha-wedding-desktop.jpg) Neha putting on her nath as she got ready for our wedding in November. We kept it simple and close to home, with our closest friends and family. So many of them had flown in from around the world just to be with us. We felt pretty lucky to have everyone together. It was such a special time. This little moment takes me right back to one of the best days of my life. Photograph by [Radhika Agarwal](https://www.facebook.com/radhika.agarwal.75). ## [The Life of a Matchstick.](/posts/the-life-of-a-matchstick/) Category: Finds Recorded date: 2012-09-16 (day precision) ![A sequence of matches progressively burning down to scattered ash on a pale gray background.](/assets/finds/07-life-of-a-matchstick-desktop-v2.jpg) I loved how childhood flip books made a few pages feel like motion. I’d always wanted to explore that idea within just a single, still image. Then I found this match going from untouched wood to a pile of ash. The whole sequence is right there, without ever having to turn a page. A simple photograph that lets you see time passing, all in one glance. ## [Nitara.](/posts/nitara/) Category: Life Recorded date: 2023-01 (month precision) ![Nitara's tiny hand holding her mother Neha's finger in January 2023.](/assets/photography/nithara-2023.png) Nitara holding Neha’s finger, January 2023. Life went from fifth gear to second. You slow down, but start thinking further ahead. No book or video prepares you. You just jump in. We named her Nitara, meaning rooted. Growing up between the US and India, that really resonated with me. Neha is so rooted in our culture and traditions, it felt right for her too. Our first child, and a whole new way of life. ## [Café Pelé Cup.](/posts/cafe-pele-cup/) Category: Finds Recorded date: 2014-03-27 (day precision) ![A white ceramic cup with a cut-out rim and curved tab handle on a saucer, casting a long shadow across a pale surface.](/assets/finds/13-cafe-pele-cup-desktop.jpg) I’ve always loved how this cup makes a handle out of its own rim. It feels like someone looked at an everyday object and asked what else it could do. Peel back a little of what’s already there, and you get something useful and beautiful without adding more. It’s a thought I often share with our team: before reaching for something new, look again at what you already have. ## [The Long Way Out.](/posts/the-long-way-out/) Category: Photography Recorded date: 2024-07 (month precision) ![A wooden jetty stretches across the sea beneath sweeping clouds.](/assets/photography/standardized/desktop/02-the-long-way-out-maldives-desktop.jpg) A wooden jetty outside our hotel in the Maldives, under sweeping clouds. We married in 2019. Then came COVID, pregnancy and our little daughter. This was our first holiday outside India since the wedding, and her first ever. That long jetty felt a bit like the path we'd taken to finally get here together. Such a simple trip, but it meant a lot to us. It made us want to travel more. ## [OCD.](/posts/ocd/) Category: Finds Recorded date: 2012-05-14 (day precision) ![A grid of white squares on gray, with one square deliberately tilted. A recreation of Patrick Smith's OCD poster.](/assets/finds/05-ocd-desktop.jpg) I love design that does a lot with very little. [Patrick Smith](https://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?lng=es&nrm=iso&pid=S0211-57352012000200012&script=sci_arttext) takes a grid of perfectly ordered squares and turns just one. That tiny shift is enough to pull your eye straight in and change how the whole image feels. The idea lands before you even get to the title. I find that kind of restraint so hard to get right. One small decision, and suddenly a simple grid has a voice. ## [Shahjahan's Tear.](/posts/shahjahans-tear/) Category: Experiments Recorded date: 2024-11 (month precision) ![AI-expanded monochrome image of a suspended water droplet refracting architecture in front of the softly blurred Taj Mahal and its reflection.](/assets/ai-gen/03-shah-jahans-tear-desktop.jpg) I was playing with Midjourney v6.1, curious about how diffusion models handle physics. Could it show the Taj Mahal upside down inside a drop of water? I wanted to see if it could get that little detail right. This generation managed it, and I loved how the composition came together. A fun way to test what the model could do beyond just making something look good. ## [Pinocchio.](/posts/pinocchio/) Category: Finds Recorded date: 2012-09-04 (day precision) ![Olly Moss's Pinocchio paper-cut artwork across two black frames, with the long nose continuing into the left frame.](/assets/finds/06-pinocchio-desktop-gray-v2.jpg) I love how [Olly Moss](https://ollymoss.com/paper-cuts/) lets the idea escape its own frame. Pinocchio sits in one, while his nose carries on into the next. Two simple silhouettes become one little story, and the empty space between them becomes part of it too. It feels playful without needing much explanation. You recognise the face, follow the nose, and the whole thing clicks. Such a lovely way to use a wall. ## [Fortified.](/posts/fortified/) Category: Photography Recorded date: 2022-11 (month precision) ![A stone palace rises into a dramatic sky.](/assets/photography/standardized/desktop/07-fortified-udaipur-desktop.jpg) I took this in Udaipur on our babymoon, just before the rain came in. Storm clouds were gathering over the palace walls, and the light brought out all the layers in the old stone. Taking away the colour and pushing the contrast made those textures feel even stronger. The clouds, the shadows, the age of the building. I love how much there is to look at within a single facade. ## [Gravity Dice.](/posts/gravity-dice/) Category: Finds Recorded date: 2011-12-22 (day precision) ![Five white Weighted Dice by Suzy Lelievre, with black pips clustered at the lower edges, on a smooth neutral gray studio surface.](/assets/finds/01-weighted-dice-desktop-gray-v2.jpg) Suzy Lelievre’s Weighted Dice made me smile when I came across them. All the dots have slipped to the bottom, as if gravity had finally caught up. It’s such a small change to something we all recognise without thinking. You get the joke straight away, then you find yourself looking a little longer. I love ideas like this. Familiar objects with just enough of a twist to surprise. ## [Ankle Bells.](/posts/ankle-bells/) Category: Photography Recorded date: 2013-02 (month precision) ![Dancers cast long shadows across the ground.](/assets/photography/standardized/desktop/06-ankle-bells-suraj-kund-desktop.jpg) Rajasthani folk dancers at a little carnival in Surajkund, just outside Delhi. I took this during a visit in February 2013. I like how the feet, the clothes and those long shadows tell the story without needing to show the whole scene. There is so much movement in the small details. The bells give the photo its name, but it is the rhythm of everything around them that stays with me. ## [Monochrome.](/posts/monochrome/) Category: Finds Recorded date: 2013-01-08 (day precision) ![Two spray cans with contrasting paint drips: white over black, black over white.](/assets/finds/08-monochrome-desktop.jpg) Two spray cans, each wearing some of the other’s paint. I love how something as simple as dripping paint can turn a pair of everyday objects into a whole composition. Black on white, white on black, with just enough mess to keep it from feeling too orderly. It fits so naturally into how I like to see this feed. A small reminder of how much can happen with just two tones to work with. ## [Fouettes.](/posts/fouettes/) Category: Experiments Recorded date: 2024 (year precision) ![AI-expanded monochrome image of a ballet dancer in a white tutu, with ghostlike motion trails against a dark stage.](/assets/ai-gen/04-fouettes-desktop-zoomout-v2.jpg) I wanted to see how much movement I could fit into a single still image. A dancer, a white tutu and a dark stage. Not very much else to work with. The fun was in the blur, where one pose slowly starts slipping into the next. An AI experiment in long exposure, with a few moments in a single frame. I like that the dancer and the dance have almost become the same thing. ## [All-in-One Card Stamp.](/posts/all-in-one-card-stamp/) Category: Finds Recorded date: 2014-04-26 (day precision) ![Ji Lee's All-in-One Card Stamp beside a card with a checklist of greetings, with Merry Christmas checked.](/assets/finds/14-all-in-one-card-stamp-desktop-gray-v2.jpg) One stamp, pretty much every occasion. [Ji Lee](https://pleaseenjoy.com/allinone-card-stamp/) turns the greeting card into a checklist, and I love how quickly the idea clicks. Birthdays, anniversaries and condolences all sharing the same little card. There is something funny about seeing them together, but it is also a useful, beautifully simple object. That is what makes it work for me. The useful bit and the joke are one idea. ## [Circular Fun.](/posts/circular-fun/) Category: Photography Recorded date: 2013-02 (month precision) ![The edge of a Ferris wheel against an open sky.](/assets/photography/standardized/desktop/05-circular-fun-suraj-kund-desktop.jpg) A little carnival in Surajkund, just outside New Delhi. I took this in February. I liked how the Ferris wheel looked against all of that open sky around it. Something busy on the ground becomes almost a drawing when you look up. The spokes, curves and repeated shapes. There’s quite a lot in a simple frame. A small reminder that you don’t always have to go far to find a good shot. ## [The Redundant Clock.](/posts/the-redundant-clock/) Category: Finds Recorded date: 2015-01-20 (day precision) ![Ji Lee's Redundant Clock, with tiny clock-hand shapes in place of numbers on a white face and silver rim.](/assets/finds/17-redundant-clock-desktop-zoomout-v2.jpg) [Ji Lee](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1859831505/redundant-clock) replaces the numbers on a clock with little pictures of its own hands. I love that the answer is already there, repeated around the face, yet you still read it like a normal clock. It takes something so familiar that we barely look at it and gives us a reason to look again. A tiny change to the language of an everyday object. Completely unnecessary, and that is part of the fun. ## [Delhi Summers.](/posts/delhi-summers/) Category: Experiments Recorded date: Not recorded ![AI-expanded surreal monochrome image of a bearded man seated inside a weathered drinks refrigerator in a shopfront.](/assets/ai-gen/06-delhi-summers-desktop-feet-v3.jpg) Delhi summers can make an old fridge look like a perfectly reasonable place to sit. I made this with one of the older AI image models, really just for fun. A man, an old drinks fridge and a small shopfront. A very unlikely escape from the heat, taken a little too literally. I liked the ordinary setting around him and the absurdity of someone making himself completely at home inside it. ## [Kabootar.](/posts/kabootar/) Category: Photography Recorded date: 2013 (year precision) ![A pigeon in flight with its wings spread, surrounded by a wide expanse of pale sky in New Delhi.](/assets/photography/10-kabootar-new-delhi-original.png) After moving back to Delhi, I realised just how many pigeons there are, especially in South Delhi. Somehow, I’d never really noticed. I wanted to catch one at just the right moment in flight, when the wings and tail come together into this little shape. It took a few tries and a fair number of shots to get the frame I had in mind. With all that empty sky around it, I’m pretty happy with how this one finally came out. ## [8.0 Concrete Chair.](/posts/8-0-concrete-chair/) Category: Finds Recorded date: 2013-08-26 (day precision) ![Side profile of Omer Arbel's slender concrete chair against a dark gray studio background.](/assets/finds/10-concrete-chair-desktop-zoomout-v2.jpg) [Omer Arbel](https://minimalissimo.com/articles/8-0-concrete-chair)’s 8.0 Concrete Chair feels almost like a sketch from the side. A few thin lines, a seat and a back. Your eye does the rest of the work. Concrete isn’t usually the material I associate with something this light. That’s what caught me here: a heavy material with such a spare silhouette. I like designs that make me look twice at something as familiar as a chair. ## [Loading...](/posts/loading/) Category: Experiments Recorded date: 2014-10-05 (day precision) ![A black-framed white poster with a tiny loading symbol at its centre, leaning against a pale wall.](/assets/finds/16-loading-desktop-sharp-v2.jpg) I made this as a little visual experiment. A loading symbol in a black frame. We’re so used to seeing this on a screen that the waiting almost kicks in. Then you realise there’s nothing coming. This is already the finished piece. It takes a small piece of everyday digital life and makes it oddly physical. I liked the idea of framing that wait. A finished piece that never quite loads. ## [Shark Spa.](/posts/shark-spa/) Category: Photography Recorded date: 2025-05 (month precision) ![A shark swims among fish and submerged architectural forms in an aquarium.](/assets/photography/standardized/desktop/09-shark-spa-dubai-desktop.jpg) Our daughter loves dolphins, which is how we ended up at Atlantis in Dubai. I took this in one of the aquariums, with a shark drifting through the scene. There’s something strange about watching all that movement through glass. The fish, the shadows, the shapes below. It feels like its own little world. A family outing, and a moment I was glad to bring back as a photograph. ## [Ice Plant.](/posts/ice-plant/) Category: Experiments Recorded date: 2024-11 (month precision) ![AI-expanded black-and-white still life of delicate flowers emerging from a clear ice cube on a grey surface.](/assets/content-final/ai-01-ice-plant-desktop-6ca6cdb69b.png) I was playing with Midjourney v6.1, curious about light passing through ice. That experiment became Ice Plant. I liked it enough to try a whole series, with the plant slowly growing as the ice cube gradually melted beneath it. Two things changing, while trying to keep it looking like the same plant. It wasn’t fully consistent, but it was a fun way to see how far I could take it. ## [Get a pair, any pair.](/posts/get-a-pair-any-pair/) Category: Photography Recorded date: 2013 (year precision) ![Traditional embroidered Indian shoes hanging in a row at a Surajkund stall.](/assets/content-final/photo-get-a-pair-desktop-812de47a94.png) I took this at Surajkund, at a stall run by a vendor from Rajasthan. Traditional Indian shoes hung in rows, each with its own stitching and patterns. I liked how they all sat together, toes pointing down against the dark background. From a distance, it was the repetition that caught my eye. Up close, there was plenty more to look at. ## [Pretension.](/posts/pretension/) Category: Finds Recorded date: 2013-05-16 (day precision) ![Black lettering on six white wall ledges reads: My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.](/assets/content-final/find-09-pretension-desktop-efa0654d34.png) “My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.” [Mitch Hedberg](https://barrypopik.com/blog/my_fake_plants_died). This still makes me laugh. A very ordinary thought taken somewhere absurd. I love how the joke follows its own strange logic all the way to the end. Put it on a wall in plain black letters, and there’s really nothing else to add. One of those things I saved years ago that still gets exactly the same reaction. ## [Paradox, Rendered.](/posts/paradox-rendered/) Category: Experiments Recorded date: 2024-09 (month precision) ![An abstract monochrome image of spherical forms, generated from a prompt about the Banach-Tarski paradox.](/assets/content-final/ai-10-paradox-rendered-desktop-c097886d16.png) As image models improved, I started wondering how they might picture a mathematical paradox. I tried out the [Banach-Tarski paradox](https://math.hmc.edu/funfacts/banach-tarski-paradox/) as a prompt, curious to see what the model would put together from such an odd idea. This was the result. I liked how a question I couldn’t easily picture on my own could lead to something like this. That curiosity was the whole experiment. ## [Mad Men.](/posts/mad-men/) Category: Experiments Recorded date: 2015 (year precision) ![A framed black-and-white poster of a suited man seated with his back to us, with a bunch of balloons beside him.](/assets/content-final/art-mad-men-desktop-0b47a5a46f.png) I’ve never worked at an agency, but I loved Mad Men. It was a big influence on me and Lazy Eight. This was a weekend experiment in 2015, recreating the poster and mixing the real with the abstract. All those suits, whiskies and cigarettes made it look so prim and proper. I wanted to lighten it up. They were having fun, after all. That’s where the balloons came into it. ## [Winter Walk.](/posts/winter-walk/) Category: Experiments Recorded date: 2025 (year precision) ![Fictional monochrome winter scene in Gulmarg from Mausam, with bare trees, one person and two dogs.](/assets/ai-gen/08-winter-walk-desktop.jpg) Winter Walk is part of Mausam, a series named after the Hindi word for weather. I was playing with Midjourney’s Niji model to explore scenery and composition. This fictional scene is set in Gulmarg, Kashmir. I tried a few locations across India, some looking almost real, others drifting into fantasy. It was a fun experiment in how differently the model could imagine each place, and where it might take me. ## [Happy Diwali.](/posts/happy-diwali/) Category: Photography Recorded date: 2022 (year precision) ![A hand holding two lit diyas against a deep black background.](/assets/content-final/photo-happy-diwali-desktop-ec989daa52.png) I was trying to photograph these two diyas without spilling anything. I liked the way the flames lit them up, with everything else falling into darkness. I pushed the contrast to make the most of that light and keep the rest of the frame quiet. I thought it looked pretty cool for a shot where half the challenge was keeping everything upright. ## [LV-ermin.](/posts/lv-ermin/) Category: Experiments Recorded date: 2025-05 (month precision) ![AI-expanded black-and-white macro image of an insect with a monogram-patterned shell on a pale grey surface.](/assets/content-final/ai-02-lvermin-desktop-27ab8c8762.png) A meme of what a cockroach might look like in the Ambani household made me laugh. I wanted to try my own take while playing with Midjourney V7’s new Omni Reference. The idea was to test how much of an LV bag’s texture it could carry over onto a cockroach. It picked up the grain and the monogram surprisingly well. A fairly ridiculous little experiment, but I’m pretty happy with how it all turned out. ## [AGI Ars Magna.](/posts/agi-ars-magna/) Category: Experiments Recorded date: 2023-02-03 (day precision) ![A black typographic poster playing with GPT version numbers, AGI and a reset, framed on a white shelf.](/assets/content-final/art-agi-ars-magna-desktop-716cdda518.png) GPT-3, GPT-4, 5, 6, 7, 8. At which number do we hit AGI, and when does the reset happen? I made this poster in February 2023, playing with that question as ChatGPT became part of the conversation. There was plenty of fear around where it might all lead. I wanted to have a little fun with it instead. ## [Row of rowboats.](/posts/row-of-rowboats/) Category: Photography Recorded date: 2018-01 (month precision) ![A row of wooden boats rests along the edge of the river.](/assets/photography/standardized/desktop/04-row-of-rowboats-varanasi-desktop.jpg) I took this at a boat repair yard near one of the ghats in Benares, where my dad grew up. It was early in the morning, before the river filled with boats. These were tied up along the bank, their dark shapes narrowing into the distance against the open water and pale sky. ## [Perception.](/posts/perception/) Category: Finds Recorded date: 2011-12-03 (day precision) ![Minimal silhouettes of Hitler and Charlie Chaplin, distinguished by a bowler hat, on a textured gray background.](/assets/content-final/find-03-perception-desktop-38ecc8220e.png) I spend my days building and evolving brands. This ad gets me every time. [Jonathan Schupp and Serviceplan](https://www.oneclub.org/awards/theoneshow/-award/6809/hitler-vs-chaplin/), for Hut Weber. A hat changes everything. Such a tiny visual shift, yet it completely changes how you read the image. That’s what I love about branding. A name, a visual or a campaign that gets someone to pause and think can stay with them. One of my all-time favourites. ## [Dew Kissed.](/posts/dew-kissed/) Category: Photography Recorded date: 2024-03 (month precision) ![Three roses on one stem with morning dew, isolated against a black background.](/assets/content-final/photo-dew-kissed-desktop-de9c22af66.png) We got into gardening at our place in Noida, with a small farm out back and flowers out front. This stem had somehow given us three roses, which I’d read was unusual. I took a photo on my phone early one morning, while there was still dew on the petals, then pushed up the contrast to bring them out against the dark. ## [Good company.](/posts/good-company/) Category: Photography Recorded date: 2021-12 (month precision) ![A dog follows a winding path through open fields.](/assets/photography/standardized/desktop/08-good-company-goa-desktop.jpg) I took this in a village outside Panjim, Goa, while we were visiting friends. A winding path, open fields and a dog making its way through the frame. It’s a very simple scene, which is probably why I keep coming back to it. The path gives your eye somewhere to go. The dog gives it a reason to stay. Nothing particularly grand happening. Just a little company along the way. ## [If Only.](/posts/if-only/) Category: Experiments Recorded date: 2022 (year precision) ![A mock-up of The Times of India with a blank front page.](/assets/content-final/art-if-only-desktop-ab946a8dd3.png) What if the paper arrived with nothing on the front page? Nothing urgent today. Enjoy your breakfast, go for a walk, get on with your day. I made this mock-up because the news so often seems to leave everyone in a state of panic. A blank paper felt like a small, slightly silly way to imagine a quiet morning without all that noise. ## [Canopies.](/posts/canopies/) Category: Photography Recorded date: 2022-07 (month precision) ![High-contrast folds of a fabric canopy flowing toward a central support.](/assets/content-final/photo-canopies-desktop-5cb728c88a.png) I shot this at a restaurant while on a staycation in July 2022. The whole hotel was beautifully put together, but this canopy caught my eye while we were eating. I loved the way it flowed overhead, all those lines gathering and spreading out again. I pushed the contrast to bring out the folds and give the shapes a little more definition. ## [Solitary Sentinel.](/posts/solitary-sentinel/) Category: Experiments Recorded date: 2023-08-27 (day precision) Editorial date selected shortly after the landing; not a photograph capture or publication date. ![An AI-refined black-and-white view of India’s lunar lander standing alone on the Moon beneath an empty black sky.](/assets/content-final/photo-solitary-sentinel-desktop-1b28e9cd86.png) After India’s lunar landing, I played with an image of the lander sitting out there on its own. I used a bit of AI to clean it up, then pushed the contrast to make the scene more dramatic. What stayed with me was all that emptiness around this tiny machine. A solitary sentinel on the moon, with only darkness beyond it. ## [Ripples.](/posts/ripples/) Category: Photography Recorded date: 2013 (year precision) ![Untouched sand with long rippling ridges in the Rajasthan desert.](/assets/content-final/photo-ripples-desktop-ebca0433cb.png) I took this from a camel on a trip to Rajasthan back in 2013. The angle caught the ripples in the sand just right, and there wasn’t a footprint in sight. It all looked almost too neat to be real, with nothing breaking up those lines. I was pretty happy with how it came out and used it as my desktop wallpaper for a while. ## [Neha.](/posts/neha-mirror/) Category: Life Recorded date: 2019-11 (month precision) ![Neha reflected in a large mirror, edited into a high-contrast bridal portrait. Photograph by Radhika Agarwal.](/assets/content-final/photo-neha-mirror-desktop-8dc7e779ee.png) Neha reflected in a mirror as she got ready for our wedding in 2019. I loved how dressed up she looked in this shot, so I played around with the edit. I removed the right side to make the mirror look truly enormous, then pushed the contrast. It turned a little reflection into something much larger, with her face emerging from the darkness. Photograph by [Radhika Agarwal](https://www.facebook.com/radhika.agarwal.75).