The liberated photographer
The camera affair
A camera is like a spouse. Whether you did a thorough research before you went in for the ‘arrangement’, or you decided on impulse letting your ‘heart’ decide without too much probing, you still have surprises lurking in the corner along with the ‘ouch’ moments. You think before you got one, you knew all you needed to know because you went in for a detailed and intricate market research. You went through all the possible profiles that were there in your reach, you were absolutely clear about your needs, and you are smart not to be swept by the marketing jargon or social hypnotism. You knew stuff, you couldn’t be fooled, you were not like the other person who simply picked whatever came his/her without due diligence! On boy! surprise, surprise, surprise! Partnerships of any kind, whether it’s official with a seal and receipt (later you can complain to the dealer) or the live-in variety (you’ll take your chances, it’s a safer bet!) have their challenges. Everybody, even avatars, messiahs, mass leaders, powerful people, get beaten at this game! Everyone says ‘ouch’ (some say ‘ OOOOUUUUCHHHH!!!!!’) some time or the other! So all those dates (at the camera shop!) did serve their purpose, they fired your hopes and dreams for that perfect picture that you and your partner would create together... Then you start clicking and ... oops what happened to the (white) balance, and why is there so much noise, why the hell did that blur, and the zoom is downright useless without a tripod (oh! the accessories you never bargained for!). You discover all this soon, very soon, starting right from the honeymoon! It takes quite some time to familiarise yourself with the nuances of your partner (and no two are alike!), your more experienced friends can only help you to a degree! This generation of cameras/spouses take quite a bit of knowing, they are different from the sepia romance of the film generation of your parents, so don’t go there for help.
This generation has so much to offer to the person who masters the nuances. You learn where to focus to get the right results, how to vary the light in your life-frames for the ‘ooh la la la’ effects. So if the ISO is limited in your camera you learn wary the exposure, if the effects can’t be obtained through a click, you rely on photo-editing to compensate for your device. Besides unlike the sepia age, this generation of cameras allows you to truly experiment! You can try and try again with the same camera and with different ones, because it’s all private now. You don’t need too many developers everything is digitised you see, it’s you, your partner and your little world in your computer. The value of virtual delights shouldn’t be underestimated! You can change cameras too you know, many are always looking to ‘upgrade’ all the time. Some have flings with other people’s cameras just to know how this brand feels, and well, you realise borrowing doesn’t help because to appreciate its true beauty you have to have it long enough so you can play with it and learn of its true potential and power. So, you need to invest!
Have to say it’s all worth it! All those moments captured, eternity in your grasp, the past in your pocket, skill becomes art, art becomes experience, experience is life. It’s a question of having a clear perspective, knowing where to focus, having the patience to know the nuances and then the magic happens!
Go on then pay, play, click... not necessarily in that order!
A camera is like a spouse. Whether you did a thorough research before you went in for the ‘arrangement’, or you decided on impulse letting your ‘heart’ decide without too much probing, you still have surprises lurking in the corner along with the ‘ouch’ moments. You think before you got one, you knew all you needed to know because you went in for a detailed and intricate market research. You went through all the possible profiles that were there in your reach, you were absolutely clear about your needs, and you are smart not to be swept by the marketing jargon or social hypnotism. You knew stuff, you couldn’t be fooled, you were not like the other person who simply picked whatever came his/her without due diligence! On boy! surprise, surprise, surprise! Partnerships of any kind, whether it’s official with a seal and receipt (later you can complain to the dealer) or the live-in variety (you’ll take your chances, it’s a safer bet!) have their challenges. Everybody, even avatars, messiahs, mass leaders, powerful people, get beaten at this game! Everyone says ‘ouch’ (some say ‘ OOOOUUUUCHHHH!!!!!’) some time or the other! So all those dates (at the camera shop!) did serve their purpose, they fired your hopes and dreams for that perfect picture that you and your partner would create together... Then you start clicking and ... oops what happened to the (white) balance, and why is there so much noise, why the hell did that blur, and the zoom is downright useless without a tripod (oh! the accessories you never bargained for!). You discover all this soon, very soon, starting right from the honeymoon! It takes quite some time to familiarise yourself with the nuances of your partner (and no two are alike!), your more experienced friends can only help you to a degree! This generation of cameras/spouses take quite a bit of knowing, they are different from the sepia romance of the film generation of your parents, so don’t go there for help.
This generation has so much to offer to the person who masters the nuances. You learn where to focus to get the right results, how to vary the light in your life-frames for the ‘ooh la la la’ effects. So if the ISO is limited in your camera you learn wary the exposure, if the effects can’t be obtained through a click, you rely on photo-editing to compensate for your device. Besides unlike the sepia age, this generation of cameras allows you to truly experiment! You can try and try again with the same camera and with different ones, because it’s all private now. You don’t need too many developers everything is digitised you see, it’s you, your partner and your little world in your computer. The value of virtual delights shouldn’t be underestimated! You can change cameras too you know, many are always looking to ‘upgrade’ all the time. Some have flings with other people’s cameras just to know how this brand feels, and well, you realise borrowing doesn’t help because to appreciate its true beauty you have to have it long enough so you can play with it and learn of its true potential and power. So, you need to invest!
Have to say it’s all worth it! All those moments captured, eternity in your grasp, the past in your pocket, skill becomes art, art becomes experience, experience is life. It’s a question of having a clear perspective, knowing where to focus, having the patience to know the nuances and then the magic happens!
Go on then pay, play, click... not necessarily in that order!
To capture or not to capture...
I’ve often heard this – don’t take photographs when you are out in nature, just soak in the beauty, the camera is an impediment! Any intense moment is to be experienced and released and cannot be caught in a cage. I have to say I largely agree. Often when I take workshops in Nature I ask the participants to refrain from photography for a time and simply be absorbed in the activity or experience. It may dilute the intensity. The reason why the camera is an impediment is because of the ‘capturing’ attitude of the person behind it. The attitude is the cage, not the camera. When you want to hold on anything, any moment, any person, you block yourself from the total experience. You don’t absorb it entirely, with all your energy, your sensitivity, your being. A part is not there – the part that says, I want it to linger, I want to pocket the moment, I want to take it back with me… the way a child may want to take back the ocean in a shell she collects from the shore. Nice try - doesn’t work! So, the wise one will say, forget the camera, the totality of the experience is more important, because it is that which will transform.
However, there is perhaps another perspective we should consider. Having the camera/tool without the hunger to capture, to see - to simply see, not to hunt! Whether it is the camera, or the gun, the liberated mind doesn’t go with a purpose to shoot and ‘bring back the meat’. They simply go for a walk and a beautiful moment may find itself reflected on a film, a poem, a painting… The walk then and what comes through it is like the descent of an art form into the consciousness of the artist, it is about being open, not about ardent seeking. The artist who paints the sunset, what is he doing? Is he an idle, imitator or can there be a space where something deeper, nobler can find an expression?
I’m not referring the the idle chattering mind that has not experienced the deep ecstasy or silence that the experience of beauty brings. There is a movement from silly prattling to a deeper experience that perhaps doesn’t lend itself to words – like love. But there is also poetry, there is also painting, there is also photography. If these become forms of art, an ennobled art that captures the suspended silences, the inner alchemy that the outer catalyses, that celebrates the dance of creation, well that shouldn’t be confused with the hollow soda-pop exclamations of, “Oh! how pretty yaar!”
© Harvinder Kaur. All rights reserved.
