After years of travel, fashion photographer B. Bhagatkumar made a number of friends in the transgender community, but it was not until he decided to undertake a photo shoot with transgender models that he truly felt like he had helped the community.
His photo-journalistic essay titled The wind from a village-LGBT special , which depicts transwomen in a village setting has now received an honourable mention at the International Photography Awards.
“It is very rare that fashion photographers have photo shoots with transgender people, especially not in traditional clothes, in a village setting,” Mr. Bhagatkumar said.
“I have travelled across the country, and interacted with people from the community. I always wanted to shoot a fashion photography session with them,” he said. When he consulted with members of the community, he realised that it would be very different from his other photography sessions. He wanted to portray them as ordinary members of the society, in saris and half-saris, rather than in the latest fashion.
“That was when we decided on a village scene, and decided to shoot in a small village 25km from Kancheepuram district,” he said.
The transgender community feels that the project will help people see the transgender community in a different light. “Often, the community does not even consider that transwomen are beautiful, they are seen more in a sexual way. The idea of this project was to change the way people perceived these women,” C. Swetha of Born 2 Win Social Welfare said.
Kavi, one of the transwomen who was part of the shoot said she only agreed to the photo shoot because it would help other transgender people believe that they too could be fashion models. “I have done a couple of fashion shows, but I never thought I would be part of a photo shoot that would win an international award,” she said.
According to Mr. Bhagatkumar, however, there were a number of obstacles. “We had planned it on a very grand scale, with a number of models, but there is still a stigma amongst people and we found it difficult to find a spot to shoot. Many places would agree, but then once they knew it was for the transgender community, they would refuse,” he said, adding that very few people they approached even agreed to sponsor the shoot.
