Gandee Vasan: From Street Artist to Internationally acclaimed Artist/PhotographerFrom Sri Lanka in 1962, to England in 1977 via Africa from 1969, Gandee Vasan is an International Photographer whose powerful and evocative images look down from billboards and out of magazine pages, worldwide. The animal portraits in his books have earned him prestigious awards and his books are enjoyed by dog and cat lovers in every continent.Gandee has a unique ability to capture the essence of what he photographs and his work with animals exemplifies this. In his first book, ‘Dog Days’, Doggy portraits gazed out from the pages, captivating dog lovers who saw them. Following the great success of this publication, Gandee followed suit with an equally enthralling set of cat portraits and a series of books, beloved by animal lovers, have followed.Gandee’s talent for distilling the essence of what he sees, was honed in his days as a street artist outside the National Portrait gallery. Passers-by, inspired by the images they had seen in the gallery, were persuaded by a group of portrait artists who touted their trade in the square outside to sit for a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ of a personal portrait: Gandee’s easel would soon become crowded and punters would wait and queue for the chance to have their portrait drawn: They knew they were getting something special for their seven pounds and this was vindicated when, at the age of 22, Gandee was awarded the MacMillan young artist’s prize and commissioned to paint a portrait of the great man himself. At the unveiling ceremony, Prince Charles commented on his tremendous talent and the rest is history.Gandee now splits his time between the portrait work of animals and humans and his other great passion: Conceptual photography. ‘Awe and wonder’ are the descriptions given of his beautiful and at times eerily moving work. To see more of his stunning images visit www.gandeevasan.com