I was not allowed to join “college of arts”
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Art was considered to be a bad choice as a career by my family. To release all the ideas and concepts stored in my heart, mind and soul I chose photography as a medium and started my life as an advertising and fashion photographer.
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I jumped into photo journalism around six years back where I entered a whole new world which was totally opposite to my style of working as an advertising and fashion photographer
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Now I was no more in studio, now I had no control on my subjects, now I was not doing planned shoots, I almost lost all the controls which I had as an advertising and fashion photographer. My shoots were based on stories, they were more candid and spontaneous, it was not about glamour or perfection.
This all transformed my style of working and looking at things. Now I try to train and challenge myself and to go more deep into photo journalism style of working and overcome my fear of losing the control over my subjects and shoots I started with Street Photography almost 2 years back.
This all transformed my style of working and looking at things. Now I try to train and challenge myself and to go more deep into photo journalism style of working and overcome my fear of losing the control over my subjects and shoots I started with Street Photography almost 2 years back.
Which are your preferred places for shooting?
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I feel there are visuals everywhere at any given point of time. It all depends on how you see and feel them and are capable enough to capture them through the camera and reproduce the same emotions which you yourself felt when you saw and lived them. So for me, any place and every place is good for shooting. Pictures/visuals exist everywhere all you need is an eye to see them and the art of capturing them.
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I am inspired by the unlimited amount of stories and scenes present everywhere and at every given point of time. The drama and emotions beyond anybody’s imagination without any pre planned concept and idea which can be captured.
The adventure of stealing a visual in a fraction of a second which normally go unnoticed by the naked eye in our busy life. Street Photography is like meditation where I cut myself from everything around me and immerse in the visual I am seeing through my naked eye before I press the shutter to freeze it forever and which I know can never be repeated.
I am deeply inspired by the tremendous surprises and stories unfolding in front of my eyes, with me being blessed to capture them and add a bit of my soul to them to transform them into visuals which only I have lived on this earth and no one else.
Street Photography It is putting soul into a visual by the tool we call camera through the connection established by the eye where balancing the act of technical and aesthetic knowledge does magic in creating a visual which triggers immense emotions in the heart and soul of the viewers.
Beyond passion and talent, the gear also is part of the process. What do you use and why?
95% of my street work is shot on Fujifilm x100s, its small so it’s easy to carry around and for the same its always with me wherever I go. (I never miss a picture and I never regret for not carrying my camera). It's great in low lights with fixed lens (23mm = 35mm f-2) and amazing results.
It's mirrorless camera so I have a silent mode which makes me shoot without any shutter sound (I don’t disturb anyone, can go very close to my subjects and get more candid images).
It's small size and retro look (makes me almost invisible, I go unnoticed, I look like a nonprofessional and helps me mix-up with the people easily)
You shoot mostly in B&W or color? Why this choice?
I mostly shoot B&W (I don’t convert from color to B&W). When I am shooting on B&W I see and visualize things in B&W, I see tones and textures in black grey and white only. I started with film and at that point of time the B&W film was the cheapest and I used to buy bulk rolls and then refill the empty cartridges, since those days I fell in love with B&W. I feel B&W as a medium to express my feelings and emotions through my visuals suits more for me. I feel colors distract and B&W images stand out strong with the stories, content and the mood l like to shoot. Recently, I have challenged myself to start shooting color too and maintain the same mood and feel of my work which I bring out with B&W.
Which is your workflow (post-processing if any, selection criteria, cropping, other)?
The moment I see something and I feel a connection to it while shooting I don’t leave it till I get what I have visualized in my heart and head. The visual is created in the head and heart before its captured by Camera. 99.99% of time I am able to produce what I feel and visualize. Once I know I got what I want I get eager to see it on my laptop, I try and download the images as soon as possible.
To process I sit with my visual alone (I don’t like to work on my edits with people around) I try and relive the moment which I have captured and then I cut off from it and see the visual as a third person, as a person who knows nothing about what I went through getting the visual or who have no connection to it at all(we as a photographers get connected to our visuals because we were there when we shot it so we have more info about it and we see the visual in a different way with that connection and our conscious and subconscious mind starts to like it even though it might be a weak image for someone who knows no stories attached to the visual) Once I feel happy and convinced to see the image and I am able to understand it as a third person I go ahead with the processing. (this whole process according to me is crucial and time consuming but I love it the most too.) I feel picture is shot and not made in post processing so I just do the basic processing on tones contrast and levels and that’s it for my pictures to be ready to be shared.
How do you see your photography in the future. Any regrets, anything you missed?
I am very bad at planning so I live in present for past is gone and I can’t change it and future no one knows about so why worry about it whereas present is all I know about and I try and enjoy it. From past I learn and for Future I work in Present.
No regrets at all.
Last but not least, which picture(s) of yours is/are significant and why?
All my pictures which are on my hard disk which are not shown or displayed anywhere for they were the weakest images are my favorite and most significant for me because it’s because of them I became what I am today, they are the images which told me where I went wrong, they are my teacher to grow, learn and unlearn to be a better photographer. I hide my mistakes in them and it’s because of them I share what I have learned from them. I rarely delete my bad Images.
The adventure of stealing a visual in a fraction of a second which normally go unnoticed by the naked eye in our busy life. Street Photography is like meditation where I cut myself from everything around me and immerse in the visual I am seeing through my naked eye before I press the shutter to freeze it forever and which I know can never be repeated.
I am deeply inspired by the tremendous surprises and stories unfolding in front of my eyes, with me being blessed to capture them and add a bit of my soul to them to transform them into visuals which only I have lived on this earth and no one else.
Street Photography It is putting soul into a visual by the tool we call camera through the connection established by the eye where balancing the act of technical and aesthetic knowledge does magic in creating a visual which triggers immense emotions in the heart and soul of the viewers.
Beyond passion and talent, the gear also is part of the process. What do you use and why?
95% of my street work is shot on Fujifilm x100s, its small so it’s easy to carry around and for the same its always with me wherever I go. (I never miss a picture and I never regret for not carrying my camera). It's great in low lights with fixed lens (23mm = 35mm f-2) and amazing results.
It's mirrorless camera so I have a silent mode which makes me shoot without any shutter sound (I don’t disturb anyone, can go very close to my subjects and get more candid images).
It's small size and retro look (makes me almost invisible, I go unnoticed, I look like a nonprofessional and helps me mix-up with the people easily)
You shoot mostly in B&W or color? Why this choice?
I mostly shoot B&W (I don’t convert from color to B&W). When I am shooting on B&W I see and visualize things in B&W, I see tones and textures in black grey and white only. I started with film and at that point of time the B&W film was the cheapest and I used to buy bulk rolls and then refill the empty cartridges, since those days I fell in love with B&W. I feel B&W as a medium to express my feelings and emotions through my visuals suits more for me. I feel colors distract and B&W images stand out strong with the stories, content and the mood l like to shoot. Recently, I have challenged myself to start shooting color too and maintain the same mood and feel of my work which I bring out with B&W.
Which is your workflow (post-processing if any, selection criteria, cropping, other)?
The moment I see something and I feel a connection to it while shooting I don’t leave it till I get what I have visualized in my heart and head. The visual is created in the head and heart before its captured by Camera. 99.99% of time I am able to produce what I feel and visualize. Once I know I got what I want I get eager to see it on my laptop, I try and download the images as soon as possible.
To process I sit with my visual alone (I don’t like to work on my edits with people around) I try and relive the moment which I have captured and then I cut off from it and see the visual as a third person, as a person who knows nothing about what I went through getting the visual or who have no connection to it at all(we as a photographers get connected to our visuals because we were there when we shot it so we have more info about it and we see the visual in a different way with that connection and our conscious and subconscious mind starts to like it even though it might be a weak image for someone who knows no stories attached to the visual) Once I feel happy and convinced to see the image and I am able to understand it as a third person I go ahead with the processing. (this whole process according to me is crucial and time consuming but I love it the most too.) I feel picture is shot and not made in post processing so I just do the basic processing on tones contrast and levels and that’s it for my pictures to be ready to be shared.
How do you see your photography in the future. Any regrets, anything you missed?
I am very bad at planning so I live in present for past is gone and I can’t change it and future no one knows about so why worry about it whereas present is all I know about and I try and enjoy it. From past I learn and for Future I work in Present.
No regrets at all.
Last but not least, which picture(s) of yours is/are significant and why?
All my pictures which are on my hard disk which are not shown or displayed anywhere for they were the weakest images are my favorite and most significant for me because it’s because of them I became what I am today, they are the images which told me where I went wrong, they are my teacher to grow, learn and unlearn to be a better photographer. I hide my mistakes in them and it’s because of them I share what I have learned from them. I rarely delete my bad Images.
Interview conducted by Michail on Jan. 11, 2017