This was an opportunity to experience documentary photography. I wanted to attempt at the procedure of ideation, creation, execution and production during my internship. Hence, I intended to learn the process of design with photography as the medium while I interacted, observed and received feedback from different people and photographer Ravi Dhingra. Knowing my interest, he encouraged me to take up a project on my own giving me complete freedom. As I learnt and understood the various techniques from him, I also developed my own rules towards photography and completion of a project. Ravi Dhingra is an established freelance photographer based in New Delhi with an experience of more than 10 years in Lifestyle Photography which includes Food, Interiors, Product and People. Besides working for leading Advertising Agencies in India, he is also associated with Fine Dining Restaurants for Food and Interiors photography. He has been teaching at NIFT, Delhi since many years. I started understanding basic features of using a digital SLR moving on to learnt some helpful thoughts I should consider while pursuing photography. The learning was based on discussions regarding elements in a photograph, foreground & background and sun, lighting & shadows. Considering my interest in travel photography, I was encouraged to go to the streets of Chandni Chowk. The various activities in Chandni Chowk made me absorb myself in the environment and take up a subject for a project in the area.

Science is all around us. Everyone enjoys the pleasure of learning about universe and tries to understand it. But, children have an inborn curiosity and yearning to make sense of things, people and the world around them. Play is a voluntary intrinsically motivated activity being associated with pleasure and enjoyment and It presents the best answer towards learning in for children. The project is an attempt to facilitate playful learning for children of 11-14years of age which can be adapted to different learning environments of Indian context. It has been built on a conceptual framework of children, play and learning. It has explored how an activity can be planned and designed for the learning of a child without a textbook and without one to all teaching method. Emphasis is to enable experimentation and creation by children themselves rather than just communication and passiveness towards knowledge. It aims at a solution in the form of an activity kit to enhance sensitivity in realm of light (with reflections and shadows) as well as physical, social, emotional and intellectual development of a child.

Learning is associated with education which stresses on learning through classrooms, teachers, text books and exams. But, we tend to ignore the fact that we all including children learn through what we experience. This project aims at selfdirected, purposeful and meaningful experiences against passive, forceful and fearful education. Experiences mean things done with body, muscles, hands, tools as well as the mind; the things which involve actions which are physical and involve senses. Talking, reading, listening, writing, questioning, observing, thinking, making, breaking and even dreaming are part of the experiences. ‘Play’ is the most active component of things when we engage, enjoy, have fun, question, analyze, argue, prove and do things. Science is to know how things work. Children are naturally curious to know how things work around them. Sun is the most essential component of our existence being responsible for most of the phenomena in our environment. It is important to know Science behind Sun. The project is an attempt towards learning to understand ‘Sun’ through a book where activities are planned and illustrated to encourage children to learn Science with readily available materials in a playful way.