anil

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Sunday, October 17, 2010 | flickr photos

The moment I landed in Paris my DSLR broke into two pieces. I had had made detailed plans to do a photo essay on Paris by night using the DSLR and was therefore very disappointed. My only backup was a very small Minolta rangefinder from the 70s and a few film rolls. So I ended up shooting exclusively with that for the whole trip. It was a different experience to shoot exclusively with film, after being used to the instant feedback of digital, using a camera that was much older than me. But I liked the process. The little film camera allowed me to concentrate more on composition and enjoy the process of framing every shot. I hope these five photos reflect that.

Photography continues to be a great passion for me. I'm equally happy shooting people or wildlife or architecture or landscapes. Combined with my love of travel photography allows me to look at places with a different eye, often ignoring the obvious to focus on the small details most people often miss. Immersing myself in a new culture, interacting with local people and capturing life and its myriad details gives me great pleasure and more importantly a sense of contentment.

My current day job as a communicator for a conservation NGO sometimes gives me an opportunity to visit some of the most amazing forests of India, far away from the creature comforts of civilization. The chance I get then to capture the beauty of the forests and the wildlife within is a great privilege and helps me appreciate photography as a documentation tool even more.

These experiences I feel make me an ideal candidate for the scholarship. The mentoring will help me look at my work critically, learn to shoot on tight deadlines in tough conditions and eventually give me the confidence to take on more freelance assignments in future.