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Exposure to new ideas
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Young shutterbugs honed their skills at a workshop conducted by The Hindu-Young World and AFTA in the city recently.
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"IS THIS camera good for professional photography?" asked Pramod S. Raj, raising his small auto-focus camera.
He was one among the 43 participants of `Take better pictures', a workshop on photography organised in the city recently by The Hindu-Young World and the Academy of Film and Television (AFTA).
"You definitely can," replied Santosh Babusenan, the instructor. "The camera and lenses you use matter, but what is more important is the way you look at things and your composition. If you lack visual sense, even the most advanced camera cannot help you take good pictures."
And Santosh and his brother Satish set about teaching the participants the nuances of the discipline. Santosh has a doctorate degree in film studies, while Satish, an M.Des in visual communications from IIT, Mumbai, was a technical consultant for Special Effects Portfolio of CMM Studios, Mumbai. They have been cinematographers for Channel V, MTV, Star Plus, Star Movies, Zee TV and Sony Entertainment, and have shot live shows of Big Gig, Led Zeppelin and Bryan Adams. They have also been associated with pop stars Mehnaz and Shaan and pop bands such as La bouche and Pentagram.
Inaugurating the workshop, filmmaker M. P. Sukumaran Nair urged the participants to be aware of the philosophy and artistic value of photography and not be bogged down in the semantics of technology.
"Technology, which is very much a part of photography, is only the means, not the end. The photographer is a witness to history, capturing a moment that will never be repeated. The act and the process have, thus, a timeless quality about them."
Ultimately, a photographer is assessed for his attitude to life and commitment to truth. "For instance, the shots of the crumbling of the World Trade Centre and the attack on Iraq reflect an utter lack of love and respect for life. The real picture seems to be missing. On the other hand, great masters have used this medium to capture the realities of life," Nair said.
A day each was devoted to the study of composition, forms and shapes, lenses and lighting, and use of colour. Assignments in black-and-white and colour photography were given.
"Unlike ordinary workshops, where you are plied with theory, this one had more of practical work. The assignments for the day would be based on what was taught in the forenoon. Hence, we could easily assimilate ideas such as the rule of thirds and colour balance," said G. Priyanka.
B. Nachiket was running around, asking his friends to help him load the film. "I know to shoot," the sixth-class student said with an impish smile, "but I don't know to load film."
"My father loads the roll for me every time I want to shoot," he said.
"Now, you may try to do it yourself," said the instructor, demonstrating the most basic lesson of photography.
Another student got his entire film roll blank on account of incorrect loading. "Even the most famous photographers in the world learnt it this way. So don't be disheartened," the instructors consoled him.
"We try to take good pictures, but we often fail. The result is sometimes heartbreaking," a participant said.
"You need a trained eye to take good pictures," the instructors replied. "Your eyes constantly make everything appear normal. Training yourself to identify the unusual in what looks normal, is the most important lesson. You also need to learn how film and lenses record light, scenes and colour."
A good photographer identifies the forms and shapes in what he sees around. As Henri Cartier Bresson, wrote in `The Decisive Moment', "A velvet hand, a hawk's eye - these we should all have... If the shutter was released at the decisive moment, you have instinctively fixed a geometric pattern without which the photograph would have been both formless and lifeless."
There were also sessions on news photography.
"The workshop has made me a better photographer," said Dhananjay Sharma. "I hope there is a follow-up programme."
Jaleel Mohammed of St. Mary's Central School, Poojappura, rued that the workshop was over "so soon". "It was an intense programme. And I learnt all the basics in a week. But if it were a monthlong programme, I would have emerged a supremely skilled photographer."
R. Krishnaveni of Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Attukal, said, "Never knew that one needed solid training to be a good photographer, till one attended the workshop."
V. S. Praveen, a student from the outskirts of the city, said, "We, kids in the suburbs, rarely get to attend such a workshop. So I made the most of the opportunity."
There was a session on `people photography' and how to let the subjects pose.
"For my assignment, no one in the family was ready to face the camera. So, I got my pet dog to pose," said a participant.
An exhibition of photographs taken by the participants brought the curtain down on the workshop. "The assignments were tough but rewarding," said B. Ammu, a Plus Two student.
"Some of the photographs are of a high quality. Overall, the exhibits show that the participants have imbibed the lessons," said Santosh Babusenan.
The subjects chosen ranged from pet dogs to scenes at the beach, siblings to dew drops on leaves, scenes on the street to gleaming ripples on water, and sculpture to sports.
The frames were an innocent and uncorrupted look at the world, the way only children can do.
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