Photography is gospel for them. You’ve seen them capture glamourous moments on glossies. Now that gets more personal, as the Photographers Guild of India (PGI) presents some of the foremost Indian photographers in an exhibition titled Exhibit A. In its 10th year, the event has seen support from photographers like Atul Kasbekar, Jaideep Oberoi and Avinash Gowarikar.
With over 300 members, PGI is an awareness campaign about photographers’ rights and copyright issues. The event this time will see participation from Jatin Kampani, Riddhibrata Burman, Sameer Parekh, Amogh Thakur, Rohan D’Souza. Mangesh Pawar and more. “The initiative is close to my heart. It creates a platform wherein young people are encouraged to aspire to take up photography as a career,” Jatin says.
It’s interesting to note that the hardcore fashion photographers like Jatin and Sameer have veered from fashion photography for this exhibition. Sameer says, “My inspiration stems from the movie Wuthering Heights. So you’ll see a lot of barren forests, abstract
nature and landscape. It’s just a way of looking at things from a different perspective in terms of light, shape, form etc. And that truly is the purpose of this show.” Jatin, who is well known for his celeb portfolio, shows another side to him in a black and white photo of a lake dotted with tiny yachts.
Sameer feels that photography is still at a nascent stage in India, so it’s important that established photographers promote it as a fine art form. “So the works we are showcasing are the non-commercial ones. It’s like going back to the roots, for which we became photographers,” he says.
Riddhibrata however rues that the advent of the digitals have not bode well: “Everybody with a digital camera thinks he is a photographer. Ninety percent photography clubs need to get the basics correct.” The photographer mostly shoots in black and white because he believes that there’s romance in monotones and black and whites.
For inspiration these photographers often turn to India. “We take our own backyard for granted. Look at Danny Boyle or Richard Attenborough; why does it always take an outsider to spot beauty in India?” argues Sameer. Riddhibrata says, “I shoot with a character in my mind and find a model who fits the character. Look at Mumbai, it has so much character. I wish I could attach a second lens in my head, so I could take a picture every time I’d blink.”
