Interview in Kyoorius Magazine

 (sanjay austa      sanjayausta@gmail.)

Sanjay Austa is a name to be reckoned with in the world of photojournalism in India. Austa started out as a journalist and gradually switched to photography. His first assignment as a photojournalist was an ardous expedition to Kanchenjunga where he documented the Indian Army’s climb to the summit.

Austa asserts that for a photojournalist the story behind a photo is every thing, ”Most of the photo-essays I work on are stories which I think are important to me. For example my photo-essay Forty and Done is on old age sex workers. The sex-workers lead a horrible life of  neglect and disease and when they cross 40 and the clients dry out. They are also ignored by the media. A good reason for their story to be told’’, he says.

Austa  believes that photography has become a democratic medium with a surge in amateurs  and hobbyists.  He states . ” The professionals need to invent  newer ways of doing photography. You cannot mimic the great photographers of the early 20th century in today’s day and age when everyone has a camera. Street photography is an anachronism today and should be left to the hobbyists and the amateurs’’.

‘’ Professional photographers should instead do in-depth photo-stories. This is somewhere they can bring something new to photography’’, says Austa

Austa’s photo-essya are published regularly in the indian and the international media including the Wall Street Journal, National Geographic Traveller, Departures, Centurion, Sunday Guardian, Mint WSJ , Outlook Traveller etc. His photo-feature on the 1984 Anti-Sikh Delhi Riots was exhibitited in California and UK by various human riots goups in 2009-10 respectively.

Sanjay Austa was awared the Karamveer Puruskaar (National People’s Award for citizen’s social justice and action instituted by the citizens and peoples of India) in 2010 for his photoessays on social and cultural  issues.

 (sanjay austa      sanjayausta@gmail.)

7 Responses to “Interview in Kyoorius Magazine”

  1. Ambika says:

    One word coming i.e, Beautiful

  2. RV says:

    Wishing you more success & fame 🙂 Bravo!

  3. Mukta Naik says:

    This is great! congratulations Sanjay!

  4. Great Job! Wish you a good luck for your future.

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