At seven rolls old on my Canon EOS66, there is some work worth displaying now on my blog. Hope to post some of my photographs here, alongwith the thought and expression behind the image.
I still dont know what attracted me towards photography. A graphic mind, maybe. Photography has been a fairly recent passion, one struck with infrequent bursts of inspiration. Possibly because photography, to me, still comes out as a highly restricting and fairly opportunistic form of art, tilting a tad bit more towards aesthetics than expression. The pretty visual of the green landscape or the splendid flower in full bloom is always there; all one must do is arrange the elements in the frame in a visually appealing manner, and "Wow!".
Restricting, because we tend to "take" photographs, not "make" them. The word "photograph" itself implies restriction...a record of light...a simple and true representation of already present electromagnetic waves (or quanta, if you will), manifesting themselves in what we percieve as brightness and colour. A photograph might not even qualify as a work of art for some, since it has not been created in the first place, just captured.
Opportunistic, because one needs to be at the right place at the right time with one's eyes open to the million frames life throws at one every second. Indeed, unlike poetry, the visual seldom uses the photographer. By virtue of that, a photographer might simply be a smart guy with visual awareness and a steady hand.
Or is he...
A photograph still has the capacity to take one's breath away. To stir emotions, catalyse thought, generate goosebumps, and stimulate the intellect. Just like one of Sandeep's poems, Hussain's carelessly thrown lines, Pacino's flawless demeanor, a mudra in Kathak, or a bandish in Todi, maybe. How could that be if a photographer is acting merely as an interface between a natural visual and the viewer, and not really creating anything?
The difference probably lies in the way each one of us sees things. The way each one of us sees light. The way each one of us interprets a shape, a visual. Therein lies imagination. Therein lies individuality and expression. Therein, lies art. Which is why photography is easy. No need for nimble fingers, a golden voice, a lithe body, or a mind that frolicks in invisible shapes and colours.
All one needs to have is an artist's soul, the will to say something through an image, and a camera. All one needs to do, is see.
