Photography Notes

Annika Roser and Boudoir Photography. Is India Ready for it ?

Annika Roser and Boudoir Photography.  Is India Ready for it ?

For the uninitiated, boudoir photography simply means taking pictures of people in the nude or semi nude for sensual or erotic appeal. In Boston, US, where Annika lives and has her studio ( Ma Cherie Studio) women pay her to shoot them in all manner of undress. She charges 450 dollars for two hours of shoot time. And these clients are not professional models but regular American women ; school teachers, doctors or housewife or anybody with a desire to look beautiful.


“There is Something Beautiful in a Struggle”- Sohrab Hura Magnum Nominee

"There is Something Beautiful in  a Struggle"- Sohrab Hura Magnum Nominee

Hura, is something of an antediluvian. He plays the part of the archetypal artist toiling away in isolation, often in privation but indifferent to the fame his work begets him.


10 Photography Myths that the Monkey Busted

10 Photography Myths that the Monkey Busted

With the highly advanced cameras available in the market today, the question, that can anyone and his monkey take a good photo, has been suitably answered. Here are some other myths around photography that photographers still like to float around


Jim Hubbard: “Photojournalism has Ended”

Jim Hubbard: “Photojournalism has Ended”

It (photojournalism) is nothing but superficial. You don’t get to know anybody. Not their struggles or their pain. Someone has been shot or killed and you come in and photograph those who are mourning the loss. You don’t get to know them or anything. You are just looking for a pictures of them crying. I wanted to understand people.”, he says.


Aditya Arya- and his Museum Of Cameras

Aditya Arya- and his Museum Of Cameras

At that time it was discipline. Today its all about indiscipline. Today people know that equipment can take care of a bad picture and they can be further corrected on Photoshop- so the indiscipline has happened because of possibilities . Discipline has done. Mistakes made then with these cameras could never be corrected’’, he says.


Female Photojournalists in India. A No-Win Situation.

Female Photojournalists in India. A No-Win Situation.

Photojournalism takes you to places where you would not ordinarily go. Or at any rate not go alone. Female photojournalists- a tiny minority in India- have to regularly traverse these Indian male preserves and stereotypes.

Ironically however, one of the exclusive male domains remains closer home- the media’s own photo-departments where the presence of a female photographer is still greeted with cold stares and long silences.


Raghu Rai: Bangladesh War and Lost Treasures.

Raghu Rai: Bangladesh War and Lost Treasures.

When Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated there were pictures of him blown into pieces. If I was there I would not take the photos that way. I am not condemning anyone else’s work -but at the same time that is not the way I would do things. I would like it to be more symbolic and take photos that bring out the suffering in a subtle way not the brutal way’’ , he says.


The Bang Bang Club. Photography in the Death Zones.

The Bang Bang Club. Photography in the Death Zones.

The story in the popular imagination is that Carter was so overwrought by the human suffering he documented –most notably the starving child and vulture scene in Sudan-that he could not take it anymore.

But it turns out that Carter had a long history of psychological issues. He had attempted suicide once before, much before he even became a photojournalist. His psychological issues were compounded by his drug abuse…


‘Let Things Unfold’ – Magnum Photographer Steve McCurry

'Let Things Unfold' - Magnum Photographer Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry however has an unabashed fascination for Asia. Africa comes a distant second. His images from these developing countries has invoked awe in the viewer, showered a kind of benediction on the subjects and contributed immensely to our knowledge of some of the lesser known cultures from these parts.


Ten ‘Photography’ Books All Photographers Should Read.

Ten 'Photography' Books All Photographers Should Read.

I believe in their pursuit to specialize, all professions only become more and more parochial. In our world we respect the specialists but the specialists are often only navel-gazers. Knowledgeable in their field yes but one-dimensional and therefore shallow as a whole. If becoming an ‘expert’ requires narrowing our vision, its worth asking if its worth it after all. I believe we must have a healthy contempt for all specialists.


Photo Stock Agencies- The Bane of Photography.

Photo Stock Agencies-  The Bane of Photography.

A photographer is someone who gets his feet dirty out there in the field. He is not a wheeler-dealer in pin-strips selling images in sanitized boardrooms. At least that’s not what most of us signed up for. This is why I think Photo Stock agencies are a bane to photography and photographers. But alas, they are here to stay.


How ‘Candid’ Wedding Photography has Robbed Indian Weddings of Desi Humour and much else.

How ‘Candid’ Wedding Photography has Robbed Indian Weddings of  Desi Humour and much else.

Change is welcome but this is just another example of cultural homogenization where one day everything looks the same (read American). We have seen this in architecture ( steel and glass replacing our own Indian motifs). Indian weddings are a completely different beast from the staid, solemn weddings you have in the West. So if weddings are shot in a different way in India it is just as well.

It will be a pity indeed if one day the studiowallas, who not only understood all the nuances of Indian weddings and who added so much mirth and humor to them , one day became ‘invisible’ .


Are all Editors Visually Illiterate?

Are all Editors Visually Illiterate?

Celebrated Indian Photographer Raghu Rai has often said that newspaper and magazine editors are visually illiterate. He should know. Rai spent much of his photography career working for newspapers and magazines. I started my career as a journalist too and never understood the importance of photography in a paper. I especially did not understand why my newspaper would spend so much money sending a photographer with me on travel assignments. He just has to press the button I thought.


How Photographers get their Shots and Miss the Picture.

How Photographers get their Shots and Miss the Picture.

Does photography make you see more – as is popularly believed – or does it sometimes make you wear blinkers to the world around you? Photography of course should make you see and absorb more and this is what we all believe but I think it can do just the opposite. I feel photographers are so busy with the visual assimilation of what is at hand that they don’t (and perhaps can’t) care much about what it is they are photographing. They are not so much interested in understanding the subject as they are in `capturing’ it.


Raghu Rai’s Photography Workshop- Lessons from Life

Raghu Rai's Photography Workshop- Lessons from Life

The IIT campus where the workshop was held began to swarm with a wide smorgasbord of people- students, photographers, hobbyists, parents of students, housewives, few foreigners and general hanger ons like yours truly. By the time the ace photographer arrived the classroom was busting at the seams. People had to squat on the floor and many just stood at the end of the classroom as there was just no space in the room.


Maggie Noodle – Photography Tips.

Maggie Noodle - Photography Tips.

I am putting up this post with a disclaimer: I don’t believe you can learn photography in quick short tips as listed here. These `tips’ can at best be viewed as pointers. Thats why I have titled this post -` Maggie Noodle Photography Tips’. A magazine however insisted I write few quick tips on the various aspects of photography, so here they are for what they are worth.


Anorexia is Not Beautiful

Anorexia is Not Beautiful

I believe Indian women are beautiful. And they are beautiful the way they are and the way they have been down the ages- unapologetically full-bodied and far from the curse of anorexia. But unfortunately, the aesthetics of the female body is often determined by a clique in the fashion industry.


What Camera Should I buy?

What Camera Should I buy?

There was a time when you walked into a party and someone asked you, what do you do for a living and if you said photography they would immediately ask your name. Professional photographers were so few that they were usually famous. Now there are two kinds of people in the world. Those who are photographers and those who want to be. Now if you are a photographer this is one question thrown at your almost everywhere you go. Which camera should I buy?