“What a chu*iya!” I heard a guy sneer at one of those Photowalks in Mumbai I’d decided to attend. His friends were quick to follow, bursting into not-so-discreet laughter. Not surprising, and rather well-deserved I’d think. I mean there were all these guys with their fancy DSLRs and shiny lenses. And in the midst of all that gear-crazy crowd, there I was – the proverbial misfit – shooting with a little point-and-shoot Panasonic Lumix camera. How dare I! I should have had better sense, yessiree! It’s all a gear game, photography that is, right?
The Three Idiots: Me, Shilpa Sheth & Peter Theobald at one of my Art of Seeing Photowalks in Mumbai. More images of my Art of Seeing Photowalks in Mumbai are to be found towards the end of this post.
To be quite frank, I wasn’t surprised. I should have guessed, especially when the day started off with one of the DSLR slinging photographers (he was armed with two!) walking up to me and demanding to know what gear I used. “A heart that feels, a mind that thinks, two eyes that see — that’s my gear” I replied, reiterating what I teach in my Art of Seeing Workshop. His eyebrows shot up, forehead got some wrinkles. And then the nostrils flared and lips curved into a sneer. I could almost hear him go “Dude! Are you serious? Gimme a break!”.
Oh well!
Now I’d been told by many of the fine folks who’d attended my photography workshops – and who’d also been on a few of these Photowalks in Mumbai that they weren’t really satisfied with their experiences. And while they’d been pressing me for a while on having some closed, members-only Photowalks in and around Mumbai, I really hadn’t paid much attention to their comments.
I should have, in retrospect.
So I ended up going for two Photowalks in Mumbai earlier this year (organized by some vendors and organizations), and quite frankly the experience was not too ummm… pleasant. To put it mildly, that is.
Now don’t get me wrong! Photowalks are a great activity for like-minded people to get to know each other, and of course see, discover and photograph the world around them, and hopefully learn from each other. Those, are the objectives of a photo walk.
But nowhere and nowhere do I see – fitting into those objectives – is any mention of gear, nor the attitude and act of looking down upon, laughing and sneering at, and labeling someone a “fu*kwit” just because he or she shows up and chooses to make images with a point-and-shoot camera. Heck, am I glad they didn’t see me shooting with my cell phone on one of those photo walks – they’d probably have laughed so hard they’d have busted a stitch or two. It’s another matter though, that I usually end up making better images with my “heart that feels, mind that thinks, and eyes that see” compared to a majority of the DSLR burdened crowd, but that’s a post for another day, and I’m digressing.. where, was I? Ah yes, those Photowalks in Mumbai.
The problem doesn’t lie with the organizers mostly. I feel they intend well at the end of the day, providing as they do a platform for people to get together. Except for the bit where they just have too many people participating. Photography – at its heart – is a solitary exercise; one does not make an image by committee. And when you have all those large numbers turning up, it is but natural that photographers (or rather camera burdened people) will get in each others way, ruining the photo-making process for those who are seriously inclined.
The problem – in most part – lies with many of the people who land up. Or rather, their attitude.
I’ve already spoken about the DSLR bearing crowd that may – and usually does – tend to look down on the non-DSLR crowd. What they don’t realize is this: It’s not the bloody camera that makes the shot, the camera is just a glorified light-box! I own DSLRs myself – two of them. I own two film bodies, to boot too. Yet, I often choose to make images with just a simple camera and maybe a cellphone. Just to prove a point – that it’s vision that counts, and often because the DSLR gets too bulky to carry around all the time.
The numbers make it worse, I’ve already spoken some on the many, many who show up. Twenty (and more) is a large number by any stretch, given the congested streets that make up Mumbai. And to have a horde of camera-laden humans descend upon a target… it literally looks like a pack of hyenas devouring a carcass.
Did I say hyenas? Oh yes, I did. And let me dwell on that a bit. The problem with those who don’t know how to see is that at best they tend to just gravitate towards what another camera buff is pointing his or her gear at. So if one individual typically at these Photowalks in Mumbai points their lens at something, within seconds you end up having a large number of the group converging there. Everybody making images of the same things, nobody really seeing or composing for themselves, mimicking what everybody else is doing, and copying the compositions of others. Much jostling and elbowing for space, occasionally tripping over someone else’s feet… you get the picture, I’d think.
Oh, and let’s not forget tempers running high. If that horde descends on a human subject or a work establishment (which they invariably do), tempers do run high. Of the human subject they’re pointing their gear at. Or, the owner of the establishment if it’s a shop or roadside stall. Let’s face it, no one – and no one – likes their personal space intruded upon, even by a single individual. This can be mitigated in some measure by human interaction, but definitely not when it comes to large numbers of people pointing their lens at a subject. Which actually is degrading the subject in no small measure, because these large numbers – or many of them – shoot and scoot. Ne hello’s, thank you’s, or goodbyes. The subject stops being a subject (one which should be interacted with) and instead becomes an object (one which is manipulated).
And when I’d gone and attended these two Photowalks in Mumbai, I knew just why my workshop participants weren’t too happy with the ones they’d gone on. If they weren’t too happy, I was positively displeased. But then, not the fault of the organizers as I said. Except maybe the numbers.
That being said, the participants of my Art of Seeing Photography Workshop were clamoring for some walks for the group. Armed as they were with the knowledge that the gear really doesn’t matter, that vision does, and how and what to go about looking at and for in the world around them, they were eager to make it a group activity. See for themselves, and see through the eyes of their peers. And so it came to pass: My Art of Seeing Photowalks in Mumbai.
Our group had four Photowalks in Mumbai this year, most of them in the past three months. The first was at Banganga Tank in the Walkeshwar area of South Mumbai. The second was held in the picturesque narrow lanes in Bandra, the third at the Versova fishing village, and the fourth at Dadar Market close to the railway station there.
Not all members of our group could attend, which made for a small group no more than ten at a time — which suits me just fine, what with my disdain for large numbers. The instructions were clear: don’t document, create! See for yourself. Go for quality, not quantity. Slow down, don’t be in a hurry. Don’t flock where everybody else is and don’t make the same shots. SEE. Don’t take snapshots, make GREAT SHOTS. For YOURSELF! And they really made some pretty good shots, that lot I must say. Shots that are to be found on their respective and group pages on social channels. And of course, we all enjoyed ourselves, engaged in friendly banter, grabbed a bite or two. Not something you can really do in a Photowalk with large numbers.
As for me, what did I do? Of course, as the coordinator and group leader, I was there for all our Photowalks in Mumbai. But I must admit that I made the least number of shots. Because I wasn’t there to make shots, I was there to help people see, point out things that caught my eye and which others missed, and make suggestions. At Banganga, the few shots I made were on my DSLR. At Bandra, Versova and Dadar, I chose to stick with my point and shoot — the reason is to reinforce that it is not the camera that makes the image.
And so dear reader, I give you proof – if any is called for – that it is not the camera that sees. All the images here were made on my point and shoot during our group’s Photowalks in Mumbai. The year ahead is going to be fun, with many more a photo walk in the pipeline, both in and outside Mumbai.