Art

A Sikh Wedding: Through The Lens of Hi-Tech Virtual-Reality

by SANDEEP SINGH BRAR

Working on the web, I'm constantly faced with challenges related to technology on a daily basis.

It's a rare occasion when technology and reality converge and complement each other. This is one of those special occasions.

It all started with an upcoming wedding of some friends of the family a few weeks ago. My good friend Satpal Singh Banga's son, Deljeet, was getting married and it was an exciting time as it was the first wedding in their family.

I've known Deljeet since he was a child and have always been close to his Dad, Satpal. In fact, 19 years ago, when I got married, Satpal showed up at our wedding with his camera and took some great wedding photographs and gave them to us as a gift. Something he did not have to do as I had only invited him as a guest, not as a photographer to our wedding.

With Deljeet's wedding, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to reciprocate with a unique gift.

I've always enjoyed photography and have found it a great therapy in clearing the mind and getting away from the complexities of everyday life.

Recently, I've been captivated by high-resolution virtual-reality photography. It's an application of technology which really takes photography to a new level of experience.

Virtual Reality Photography is extremely complex and time intensive because it involves creating a final image from 10 to 30 individual photographs. It is usually applied to static, non-moving subjects like architecture. You can find an example of that kind of application in my high resolution image of a hospital atrium that I recently took for a client. [CLICK here for the image.]

With Deljeet's approaching wedding, I thought that it would be an excellent opportunity to really push the technology and see that I could do as an artist, photographer and web developer. After a lot of work on the images over the past few weeks, I'm really happy with the end results.

Each image tells a multitude of stories, depending on what part of the image you look at by clicking and dragging your mouse or by zooming in and out of different parts of the image.

The langar image is a great example of this - some little boys playing together, elsewhere a joke being shared between friends, conversations, Deljeet and his mother, Nikki, getting ready for the big moment ahead, etc.

The image in the diwan hall during the Anand Kaaraj ceremony provides a breathtaking view of a gurdwara hall like never seen before. A permanent record of every face and expression, from the cute little bridesmaids in the front row to the Nihang wondering 'what am I doing here', to the giani presiding over the laavaa(n)s.

One of the most technically challenging images was taken during the evening reception where I had to fit the specialized camera equipment on top of a monopod in between the couple holding hands and take a series of photographs, while surrounded by their family in a very dimly lit space. The expressions on everyone's face, the classic architecture of the reception hall, the intricate mehndi patterns of Gurdeep Kaur's hands  - all work to make a fascinating image from a unique viewpoint.

A number of years ago, I photographed the first Sikh wedding on the Internet [CLICK here to view] when I covered my friend Harpreet Singh's wedding in order to tell the story of what happen's at a Sikh wedding in words and pictures, as part of my work on Sikhs.org.

The Virtual Reality images of Deljeet and Gurdeep now add a new chapter and a new dimension to the story of a Sikh Wedding.

To view A Sikh Wedding - Deljeet and Gurdeep, CLICK here.

The author is, in addition to being a photographer, the creator of the Internet's first Sikh website, Sikhs.org,  and Curator of SikhMuseum.com. His portfolio can be seen at www.SinghBrar.com/photos/

March 21, 2011

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