Unembellished frames featuring a woman staring into space, a lady paying obeisance, and a man cycling across the street are part of his new show, Sidhpur: Time Present Time Past, which can also be termed as a visual study of the town's Islamic Bohra community. ... Cortés's photography project is a commentary on the architectural influences seen in the area, and speaks volumes of the town's opulent history. In most of the photographs, though the subject on the foreground may be lackluster, the backdrop gives us a glimpse of a lavish yesterday. The lensman observes, "The lifestyle of the community now in Sidhpur is different from the one during its glory days. The architecture is an amalgamation of many different styles ranging from early Victorian to quintessential havelis. The interior of each house is a statement of how far and wide the owner has travelled."

Ask him to pick his favourites, and he reluctantly says that photography is a complex process, which involves the "other" (audience), and he considers his project a series of two-dimensional statements that belong to him as well as the viewer. However, he adds, "The photographing of the women in my images was the most interesting process as it all happened organically and required minimal artifice."