NEW DELHI: Raghu Rai Ji told me that he had been using the film camera 40 years ago. But it was easy for him to switch to a digital camera because he had learnt to control his hands. So the switch allowed him to click what he wanted freely. Gigi Scaria told me that ‘the uniqueness is in your thought process’. I completely agree. The thought process, timing, light… for that one shot has to be in sync.
Everything has to be connected,” says Ayesha Kapoor, a 17-year-old budding photographer in Delhi, The above are her learnings in a nutshell while she compiled The Discerning Eye, a book wherein she has brought 16 of India’s renowned photographers before the lens through elaborate interviews.
The photographers featured in the book come from a range of fields, fashion to art. The illustrious lineup includes Raghu Rai, Gigi Scaria, Sanjay Bhattacharyya, Parul Sharma, Ajay Rajgarhia, Vivek Vilasini, Tarun Khiwal, JJ Valaya, Karan Khanna, Surekha, Ram Shergill, Waswo X Waswo, Naveen Kishore, Ravi Aggarwal, Riddhi Brata Burman, and Prarthana Modi.
Ayesha, whose mother is art dealer Payal of Arushi Arts, says she picked up photography as a hobby, clicking her sister, and then training herself after being gifted a DSLR on her 14th birthday. Her interest grew after she partook in a bunch of small workshops. The culmination of all learning reflected in her selection to head the photo club at her school, Modern School at Vasant Vihar. This means she regularly photographs her school’s events.
The book can be considered a handbook of tips of how different maestros have a different approach to photography and the subject at hand, their line of creativity and respect for the field. “I am a very impatient person, But during these interviews, the unanimous advice I received was the art of patience. And that photography can become your weapon to capture a moment.”
The interviewed
Raghu Rai, Gigi Scaria, Sanjay Bhattacharyya, Parul Sharma, Ajay Rajgarhia, Vivek Vilasini, Tarun Khiwal, JJ Valaya, Karan Khanna, Ram Shergill and others