Media/ Books

End of Faith: Sam Harris and ‘The Problem with Islam’.

End of Faith: Sam Harris and 'The Problem with Islam'.

When you see this fundamental difference you can see the point Harris is making. Islam is different. What makes it so different? Harris believes because unlike other religions Koran is one composite book with a central doctrine, much easier to instruct and understand.


How I Became a Big Loafer

How I Became  a Big  Loafer

In essence every photographer worth his name is in the business of loafing or should be.

Henri Cartier Bresson one of the greatest in the profession was into it too. He was of course French and as is their wont the French elevate everything into high art. So in French a loafer is called flaneur; a far more sophisticated, respectable terminology. Balzac, another Frenchman, described the flaneur as the sort of person who is a connoisseur of the smells, the sounds, the drama of the streets he walks in and he described the activity of loafing as being a sort of ‘’gastronomy of the eye’’.


Pilgrims Progress. Muslim Palanquin Bearers of Vaishno Devi

Pilgrims Progress. Muslim Palanquin Bearers of Vaishno Devi

New Delhi-based photographer Sanjay Austa has always been fascinated by people who have faith, because he has none. Last year, Austa visited Vaishno Devi in Katra, Jammu and Kashmir, to document the pilgrims and their progress up the Trikuta mountain to visit the Hindu shrine situated at 5,200ft.


Taaza-Khabar: A Nation of Newspaper Readers

Taaza-Khabar:  A Nation of Newspaper Readers

Wherever he went in India, photojournalist Sanjay Austa, found people in rural and urban areas devouring the daily newspaper. Even in metros, where a large number of people use public transport. It was a stark contrast to what he had found abroad, in countries like the US, where people preffered reading books.


Through an Art Student’s Eye.

Through an Art Student's Eye.

Its always intriguing how the audience interpret your work- whether its a poem, a book, a film or photographs. Surfing the internet, I found this video presentation on three of my photo-essays by an art student in the US.


Interview in Kyoorius Magazine

Interview in Kyoorius Magazine

Sanjay Austa is a name to be reckoned with in the world of photojournalism in India. Austa started out as a journalist and gradually switched to photography. His first assignment as a photojournalist was an ardous expedition to Kanchenjunga where he documented the indian army’s climb to the summit.
Austa asserts that for a photojournalist the story behind a photo is every thing, ”Most of the photo-essays I work on are stories which I think are important to me…


An Interview with Documentary Photographer Sanjay Austa

An Interview with  Documentary Photographer Sanjay Austa

Sanjay Austa is a Delhi based documentary photographer who is widely published in International Media including the Wall Street Journal, National Geographic Traveller, The Sunday Guardian, Departures, Centurion, Mint-WSJ, Outlook Traveller etc. His photo-feature on the 1984 anti-Sikh Delhi riots was exhibited in California and UK by various human rights groups in 2009 and 2010 respectively.


From Passion To Profession

From Passion To Profession

Every assignment brings its own challenges. The trick is to satisfy the client who hires you without compromising on what you think are good pictures. As a photojournalist I am mostly photographing strangers. The challenge for me is to make them open up to me so I can get a unique perspective to their lives.


They lost their childhood to the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots

They lost their childhood to the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots

In a moving photo documentary, the children of the horrific October 31-November 1-2, 1984 riots narrate personal tales bound together by the common themes of violence, loss and the death of their childhood, reports Sanchari Bhattacharya.


Wicket worship : ‘Gully’ Cricket- Cricket in our Backyards.

Wicket worship : 'Gully' Cricket- Cricket in our Backyards.

Sanjay Austa’s ongoing photo series Gully Cricket: Cricket in Our Backyards, portrays the game as it’s played in the monasteries of Ladakh and on the beaches of Kanyakumari: Mint


Books : Indian Monuments

Books : Indian Monuments

Though monuments fascinate me, I may not have taken the trouble of travelling to some of the monuments of my own. For instance Sanchi Stupa and Udaigiri Caves in central Madhya Pradesh. They are both so far deep in this big Indian state and so far away from the nearest city , airport or railway station that I would have possibly never visited them in my life. Most history buffs don’t bother about Sanchi either unless one is a Buddhist and on a planned Buddhist itinerary around India.