Gursimran Kaur is a 24 year old Web architect from Jalandhar, Punjab. Better known as @limeice to her more than 6000 followers on twitter, she’s a self professed social media maestro and an amateur photographer who has been working on her version of Project 365.
She has taken more than 150 unique and extremely interesting pictures of herself with themes ranging from being behind a veil to fishface to clones. Here’s Gursimran on what it’s like to have a new idea everyday and to put it out for people to see.
Please give a brief background of yourself. (Family, location, likes, dislikes, quirks…accidental murders committed etc.)
My dalliance with design started in my pre-teen years and since then I’ve been out to destroy the web, one website at a time. I practice hypnosis to convince clients that I’ve delivered an fantastic job and fish money from their deep pockets using my ray gun. But all of that aside, I am a compulsive tweeter, creepy Facebook stalker and a hashtag rhymer. My idea of fun is clicking pictures of myself and photoshopping them till one limb doesn’t quite stick to another. They call me morbid, twisted, but very endearing.
Please describe Project 365, how you thought of starting it and who is helping you on the project?
Project 365 is my whimsical take on taking self-portraits for a year. Besides a tripod, sometimes stack of books, ledges or random pieces of furniture join the fun as I try to shuttle back and forth between setting the self timer and modelling for it. The entire project involves just me from the shooting to the posing to the processing. I love to translate surrealism to pictures and sometimes work hours to get the desired effect. I know I’d need therapy once I’m done with the 365 serves because I’d miss it that desperately much!
Can you give an idea of the diverse themes that you have showcased through the project?
Most of my work is dark and surrealist. I’m a big fan of the unreal and the could-be-real. I try to bring that to my pictures, though some of them are borderline disturbing with their use of gore or displaced bodies. I drive a dagger through my head, misplace my stomach and make multiples of me trying to kill each other. Safe to say, I’m not for the faint hearted. If I dare use them for my twitter profile, I have followers threatening to unfollow if I don’t change to a ‘prettier’ face. Not kidding.
What is it like behind the scenes? In terms of coming up with ideas, working on them, etc?
Sometimes I begin with an idea and then work at it. Mostly though I click pictures first and let the spirit of it guide me to its cause. I snap. I criticize. I snap again: can’t believe how fat my legs looked in that one. Snap, snap. Maybe a more flattering angle next, snappy snappers, okay well I’ll photoshop this to look better. Then it takes a few hours of compositing, or maybe just ten minutes of quick processing – following which I pimp it on Twitter and FB and then pretend to be all modest when someone compliments.
How much of your day is spent on the project?
Depends on how mad the idea is. The bionic woman took two days, the woman with multiple heads took two hours and the woman who buried a body took twenty minutes. On an average, a composite usually takes two hours and most days I feel like it was time best spent.
How difficult was it to continue the project while you were expecting?
It was easier, given I was working less and had more time at hand. But it was creatively challenging to use the belly to my advantage in the shots. Regardless, I kept at it – evendid quite a disturbing piece on the child tearing out of me that raised quite a few brows.
Courtesy: Gursimran Kaur
What kind of tools do you use to create the images? Have you had any formal training for it?
I’ve been Photoshopping for over a decade – that’s usually all it takes to bring art to life from a mere photograph. No formal training, though truth be told – anyone can learn how to use the tools, but very few can figure how to use it to their advantage.
What’s the wackiest thing that you have done to get an image?
Dressing up four times and posing to seem like I’m trying to kill myself four different ways?Standing on a thin ledge many times over trying to get the perfect shot? Clicking a billion shots before I could composite me kissing myself? Painting lampshades and a window on my face? Nah, nothing wacky.
Can you describe some of your work apart from the project?
I design websites, manage social media branding for companies, shoot kids (with the camera, as of now) professionally and make graphic composites. I have been in the industry for thirteen years now and when I tell anyone how old I am, I usually get a look of disbelief followed closely by a giggle. That’s when I hypnotise them and con them into hiring me. We’ve come a full circle in this interview, don’t you think? Now I must go destroy the world (wide web). Gotta give those superheroes something to do, no?
There are a lot of interesting people out there like Gursimran, who are stretching the accepted definition of creativity and channelising it to the new mediums. With the advent of portals like Flickr, Soundcloud etc, it is increasingly easier than ever before to share ideas and to create something unique.
You can check out Gursimran’s Flickr stream here.