The joy of clicking the shutter button is at times inexplicable. Perhaps what is explicable is minutely reflected through the photographs that serve as the fodder for more such repetitive action.
I started photography when I was not a photographer. The very thought of taking the camera and going out filled my stomach with running squirrels. I don’t know when I started taking photography seriously. It was a feeling that came from within and the only word that stuck to my mind was “Passion”. Therefore today I can firmly say that photography is a passion for me. And this passion I realised after days of going out with my camera every morning. I showed no mercy. Be it the roadside views, trees and shadows, north Kolkata houses or footpath beggars, I showed no mercy. Back at home, I used to wonder and wonder a lot at the stark differences of a real time view and photo-graphical view.
As far as my learning is concerned, I can say that while capturing a particular moment in the camera frame, which includes keeping in mind what to keep and their proportionality and what to delete, placing the subject correctly, it becomes extremely important to be yourself. This gives the photo a story, a story framed, captured and ready to be relished. And all the actions that you take before taking the shot, is known as Framing.
Soon I realised that only framing cannot do the job. In order to make the photos look dramatic, lively and attractive, I should be able to play with light and shade and of course colours. Personally I have nothing against black and white photos but when colour is an option, why not exploit it? Thus I completed my story. Then it was time for story hunting.
Today when I look back at the years gone by I feel more and more excited and at times nostalgic. All the stories I wrote through my photographs, stories of jungles, of spiders, of seas and mountains, they bring back nothing but good memories. Thankfully, I have the memories captured and locked in numerous Compact Discs.
With all the complexities of life and pressures to earn a few bucks, at times I do feel distanced from my Nikon D200 and at that point of time I do nothing but stare at the transparent plastic container lined with silicon gel lovingly hosting my camera. And when emotions over-pour and my brains find it difficult to contain, I leave everything behind, take my camera and go outside. One thing’s for sure – Shutter and Nikon D200 are inseparable.
Today, Paragraph’s with me. He accompanies me, he writes and at times click photos too. It’s a peculiar mixture of friendship, trust and fun. We have this peculiar game of selecting unrelated photographs and making a story out of them. A game where we fight, we shout, quarrel and what not but at the end we have a story to tell. Paragraph writes it down immediately. It is these stories that we would publish in our blog and they would be punched with a few photography tips and shooting details.
CHEERS!!!
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