Photo Finish !!!

The Blogger :)

 A photo may narrate quite a few tales... It may please the eye, it may choose to repulse the onlooker. Sometimes a photo thrills you; again in certain occasions it may coax your darker emotions... Like any other creative fields, photography is a finer art and all we hear about the PHOTOGRAPHIC EYE of an individual is nothing but his/her own sense of perception, way of looking at things ---- what in other words may be termed as creativity....

Sunset

As it can be seen in the second and the fourth pictures, the photography is mundane and grammatical, these can be dubbed as typical record shots of 'sea' and 'sunset'... (although I myself feel that it is also essential to capture record shots)...

Mr. Bee

 But in the third one, it is rather an unconventional subject... inspiring either awe or dismay or some other darker emotion... The bee is also beautiful, I guess, but such beauty is not comparable to the conventional beauty we associate with the word BEAUTY itself.... I know many of us have different notions regarding such subjects... Many of us may say that the picture of the bee is grammatically incorrect as the Bee has been centrally placed...thus making the picture monotonous.... but I feel that in order to emphasis its crude beauty and to focus on its details.... a central location for Mr. Bee was essential :)

Shoreline at Sunset

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There is another type of photography which I sincerely like ---- the portrait photography.... in simpler terms ... clicking people....

As always humans are the most exquisite and amazing subjects.... one can get a varied range of expression from our kind... we laugh, play, react, shout.... get elated... depressed...thoughtful and ... not to mention ...drunk... :D

If one can really catch the mood of the subject it really becomes prized picture... Its often very difficult to catch the proper mood of a subject... as the mood does not only depend upon the face, but also is very much dependent on the gestures and postures of the rest of the body.

  I remember... once I was trying to click a photo of a girl who was laughing hysterically... of course without trying to get too much attention to myself.... unfortunately, all my endeavors successfully portrayed as if the girl was crying with pain... :(

In another instance, I was trying to catch an innocent smile across the lips of a luv'ly lady... but in each attempt it brought out a voluptuous smile... which I never intended... :(( I feel that if one can actually make out an innocent photograph out of a glamour backdrop.... and can interchangeably bring out glamour and passion out of an innocent ... he/she is a genius as the person has really understood the human emotion.... which is all we try to depict in our works of ART.

  Now, coming back to the discussion of portraits... there may be thousand and one sort of classifications according to the theory... but as always... I really do not go by theories... 

But I tend to classify the concept of Portrait Photography into more or less two broad heads ---- firstly, when the subject has the knowledge that he is being photographed and the subject either willfully poses or the subject acts as if he is unaware...

Secondly, where the subject is truly unaware that he is being snapped...  

Suparna...
She's an equally good photographer :P

 Its my personal opinion that in most of the cases, when the subject knows that he is being photographed, but acts like he doesn't know... the picture quality is bound to suffer... I mean... when a person does so, he/she does not really believes it... so the unadulterated emotion sought by the photographer gets betrayed and some adulteration in the emotion is noticed and in my opinion, such subtle unsure expressions damage the quality of the picture... 

Self portrait... soft focus

 Only a handful of few... who are trained for the camera...can really strike pose ... like the actors and the models... because they tend to 'believe' in posing... So I think if one has to photograph such subject who has the knowledge that he is being photographed, its much better to make him or her willfully pose for the camera than the other option available... Here are some of the pictures I took applying the above principles ...

Arka... on a record portrait....

I simply luv'd Shruti's expression !!!

.... And Life Goes on !!!

But... there is no point in denying that real satisfaction on the matter of 'people photography' can be really achieved by capturing the moods and emotions of the people... when they are unaware... that brings out the unalloyed and unadulterated emotions... which is absolutely pure and really becomes a photographer's prized catch... 

Lost in TIME !!!

Personally speaking the photos titled “…And the Life Goes on” and “Lost in Time” are two of my favorites… I know the first one has certain editing problems… before uploading the pic I did not realise that the colour of the first woman’s saree has smudged due to unorthodox application of exposure compensation while digital dark-rooming … but still all those things are correctable… but the “emotion capture” part of the pic I think has been truly heartening… that is one aspect which no amount of digital dark-rooming can improve…

 AND... as far as the second one is concerned I simply love it for the composition...and for every other thing :D... I would not go into the grammar of the pic lest I fear it shall be ruined in that technical post-mortem...

 The adjacent pic was once again one of those shots which are destined to be looked down upon... typical amateurish shot... mundane and monotonous... but its funny to note that the picture is grammatically correct... Rule of thirds have been adhered to... object is side-placed... even there is a glint of silhouette... But in spite of everything...  to me the pic looks dull... boring... and incomplete... Grammarians shall jump to the conclusion ''the pic is too empty'' but believe me ... even if I photoshop a whole ice cream parlor to serve as a background... the pic still remains incomplete.... 



But that does not mean that this pic does not tell any story... and despite its short comings....it does so well... it evidently muses about a middle aged man...toiling hard for his family... under a scorching sun... in a beach side... where the well to do ppl go for vacations, this person goes to earn his livelihood .... and the photographer capitalizes on his dismay ... in the name of capturing human life... 


This story... is perhaps the only reason I published this pic in my blog :)

She Stoops To Conquer !!!

Last but not the least... the adjacent pic has taken away my heart only because of the heavenly smile the teen ager girl  flashes... her smile is immeasurably precious... and so pure !!! 

There are ambiguities regarding the purest form of emotion... to me its unwaveringly ... JOY... the delight of the Heart...expressed by a spontaneous smile... purifying both the hearts that smiles and that watches... 

I tried to capture her innocent smile... wrought in Heavens... a lowly girl... from a lowly background... but when she smiles from her heart... she rules the Planet... and believe me... this holds true for any human being...



To sum up, I feel it is worth mentioning that personally speaking, I believe, like any other creative form of expression... photography is also an art and as such should not be bounded by too much grammar... but it does not mean that the grammar part should be excluded totally... what is necessary is to guide our creativity through the channels provided by grammar... neither should creativity ruin the fabric of grammar, nor should grammar throttle and suffocate creativity... in fact... a true photographer always tries to figure out the perfect blend of grammar and creativity.

I once again must declare... that I'm no expert in the field of photography... neither am I a professional photographer... it is just one of my very serious hobbies... I know... many of the experts may prefer to be at variance with me... and they may have their reasons... But whatever I wrote here is gathered from my own field experience, although very little, in comparison to the stalwarts and experts in this field...I only wanted to share my thoughts....and perhaps muse aloud... I shall be truly happy if my blabbering here.. helps anyone interested in photography..... 

Till then... 

Keep Flying !!!!