Param Bedi - Friend/Artist/Architect/Photographer/Cook Extraordinaire

As I promised earlier, I am thrilled to feature my good friend Param Bedi, on my blog. I knew Param when we worked together at the same architectural company in downtown Seattle almost 10 years ago. And then through this wonderful thing called Facebook we were able to reconnect last year. I only knew him as an architect and was amazed to find he is also an artist, photographer, and an amazing cook. I remember way back then his biryani parties used to be quite popular...and our dinner at his place last month confirmed his culinary genius! Here is what Param says about his childhood....

"Born in India, I grew up in the southern cities of Bangalore and Mysore. We had a large family home in Mysore, which we shared with my fathers brothers, their families and our grand parents, grand uncle and aunt. There were eight kids, six parents and four grand parents, with uncles, aunts and cousins visiting all the time sometimes staying for weeks and months. We had as many as five horse stabled right on the premises. At one time as many as eight dogs. It was a magical place for us kids.


When I was seven we moved to Beirut, Lebanon. My father was a history buff and there was plenty of it around. We visited the biblical cities of Sidon and Tyre, the roman ruins of Baalbek, where at the circus my father recounted in gory detail the events of a days gladitorial games. We visited the greek ruins of Byblos, and the fabled markets in Damascus; saw graffiti scrawled by napoleons armies and picnicked at the crusader forts along the mediterrean coast.

In India and Lebanon the arts played a significant role in our lives. My grandfather, uncle and aunt were classical musicians. My father an avid thespian. Even today I can rent a movie or two in any standard hollywood video with my parents, or grandparents with small roles in them. My mother encouraged my passion for painting and drawing from when I was very young.

The civil war in Lebanon brought us back to Hyderabad India. When I turned eighteen I came to the USA to go to college. I got a degree in philosophy and art history and then a masters in Architecture. Photography, sketching, watercolor have been my passion all along. I have taught drawing in high school in India and at the Corcoran school of art and design in Washington DC, where I live with my wife Amy and our daughter Olivia."

I wish I could show you all his work but that would be impossible. So here are my favorites.

Sketches

Burma - photographs

Corsica - photographs

Udaipur - photographs

Jaipur - photographs

Amsterdam - digital photographs

For more of Param's artwork, check out his Facebook Fine Art page and his flickr slideshow.