pbase, where have you been all my life?

On a forced break of sorts, I have been spending a lot of time going through photography sites and resources on the net. Flickr has been coming in for a lot of flak for going back to an autocratic 1.0 avtaar. And I found pbase… rather late, I confess, for someone so engrossed in finding and viewing great photographs on the net.

I have found some of the most stunning photographs and entire photo galleries I have ever seen. I have now spent the last three days almost entirely on pbase. And I could weep for joy at some of the breath-taking and near perfect imagery there.

I got to pbase first through the amazingly talented Anna Pagnacco’s profile on flickr – as I write this, I can still see in my mind’s eye some of her photographs from Burma… Anna’s work is magnificent – definitely go see her photographs – especially the ‘Burma’ and ‘color’ galleries.

And a few more exceptional photographers I have come across on pbase –

Sergio Pessolano – with an incredibly moving gallery – mother and child…

Vikas Malhotra’s images from Pushkar… especially the camels at sunset

Gil Azouri’s collection of photographs from China… showing a face of the country that has rarely been seen before…

And finally, Ian Cameron whose website captures the magic that is good photography – light. Light that is transient and sometime ethereal. A must-see for his stunning images from Scotland.

pbase, where have you been all my life (as a wannabe photographer, i.e.)… It almost makes me want to throw away my camera… and give up all pretensions to good photography.

Or maybe it is just finally time to invest in that photography course. And some new lens…

Update : and how did I forget? I got through my initial few minutes at pbase and found some of these galleries through the charming Claude Renault. If you have not seen Renault’s photographs of Indis, you have not, well, seen India very much.