DW Journal

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

India | Tuesday, November 8, 2011 | 5 photos

When I was nine my dad gave me a point-and-shoot camera. It marked the beginning of our first annual American Western road trip. I spent these trips with the viewfinder glued to my face.

A few years prior, I began taking piano lessons and writing music. I was prolific, excited by musical expression.

In college, I studied in Europe and fell in love with my first real camera. I took thousands of photographs.

Simultaneously, I had decided to take my music more seriously. I returned home to build a career writing music for film.

This year I visited Mumbai, India. Camera in tow, I investigated a documentary film I will be scoring, all about the 2011 Cricket World Cup. The urban sprawl challenged me to seek out subjects. I reconsidered how I should shoot. I sought to capture the energy of India’s passion for cricket and its appeal across all strata of the country’s diversity.

A photograph is a point of a view. Finding that unique perspective isn’t just about my subject, it also is about me. Just as my music serves the narrative of a film, I learned that my photography needs to tell a story. The contents of a frame can highlight a piece of drama for a wider audience.

This scholarship offers an unparalleled opportunity to learn, observe, and chronicle through photography. I apply hoping to challenge myself further to create photos that present a point of view no one has seen.