NK

Nilanjan Karmakar

Photographer
Cinematographer

A person with long dark hair in a red top, striped skirt, sheer red veil and red ruffled headpiece standing in a green field under a pale cloudy sky

Kolkata
India

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A yellow car on a wet street passing a red No Entry sign beside a small orange-draped roadside shrine with a garlanded statue, in front of a weathered shuttered building
A woman in a long red tunic stands in a dim room beside an open red door, one hand raised against it and the other on her hip, looking into the camera, with bookshelves and a curtained window behind her
A woman in black with a gold necklace and hoop earrings looks into the camera, framed by the raised arms and spread hands of a blurred figure leaning back in the foreground, against red and yellow painted walls

I am interested in the moments that happen before people realise they are being photographed.

Index

Selected work

  1. 01Before the painted backdrop
  2. 02In the green field
  3. 03Boats at the steps
  4. 04Gloves and a painting
  5. 05Bhadrachalam
A man pulling a hand rickshaw with a passenger past another man leaning over a cart, in front of a large backdrop printed with the Taj Mahal

Plate 01

A light-blue and yellow tram on wet tracks in the rain, with a person holding an umbrella beside a yellow barrier, another person at the left and a bus behind

Plate 04

People with umbrellas and a dog wading through a flooded street past shuttered shops and a stall covered in red Bengali lettering beneath marigold garlands

Plate 07

Project 01

Bhadrachalam

Glimpses from the modern nursery: A glimpse into the work being done in the modern nursery area.

View project
Four people in green hats and pale shirts stand among rows of low green plants beneath a bright translucent mesh roof, two holding bunches of leafy cuttings
A woman in a green brimmed hat and striped shirt gazes to one side, with others in matching green hats softly blurred behind her.
Two women in green hats sit cutting leafy stems with scissors, blue tubs of green cuttings in front of them and a green mesh screen behind.
A hand with a red-painted nail and a sequinned green sleeve holds slender stems while scissors trim them over a blue tub of foliage.
Wide view under a white mesh roof of about a dozen people in green hats tending long raised concrete beds filled with young plants. 01 A woman in a green hat and patterned scarf stands among rows of small green plants, looking down at a bunch of leafy cuttings in her hands. 02 A plastic basin heaped with leafy cuttings sits on a dirt path between two raised concrete beds of young plants. 03 A woman in a striped shirt and patterned skirt walks along a paved path balancing a basin of leafy cuttings on her head, others following behind. 04 Women in green hats sit on plastic chairs in a shaded open-sided space, trimming green cuttings into colourful tubs with scissors. 05 A hand wearing gold and green bangles holds a leafy stem as scissors cut it, above a bright turquoise tub heaped with green leaves. 06 A woman in a green hat and striped shirt stands between rows of young plants under a mesh roof, holding a bunch of leafy cuttings and small secateurs. 07 A line of people in matching caps and pale shirts walk along a paved path beside a pond, carrying tubs of green plants on their heads. 08 A seated woman in a green brimmed hat trims leafy green stems with scissors over a blue tub, beneath a roofed space with blue pillars. 09

03 / Motion

Selected films

Documentary / Cinematography / Visual essays

View films
Two hands in blue gloves hold up a white and blue foil packet printed with a lightning-bolt graphic, against a striped shirt.
Nilanjan Karmakar standing outdoors in a black jacket beneath trees, looking towards the camera
Nilanjan Karmakar

About

Nilanjan Karmakar is a photographer and cinematographer based in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, working in still and moving images.

I photograph the city as it unfolds—through passing gestures, changing light, movement and moments that often disappear unnoticed. My work is centred on everyday human presence and the visual relationships that form briefly within public space.

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Commissions, prints and collaborations.

Available for photography, cinematography and visual storytelling assignments — editorial, documentary and commissioned. Prints available on request.

Kolkata, India

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