These days anyone with a digital camera can snap a photo. Being trigger happy, though, does not make a good photo (or one a photographer). Four photographers in the city, who’ve made a name for themselves with their clicks, talk about how they zoomed in on their specialisations and a few tricks of the trade to capture a meaningful shot.
BIJU P.B.
Bird photography
He’s traversed everywhere from Arippa to Bhutan and just about every birding hotspot in between clicking avifauna in their natural environment. “It was bird watching rather than bird photography that first caught my eye,” says Biju, assistant director at Employee’s State Insurance Corporation. “My first posting was in Shencottah and it was there that I got to fully explore my interest, trekking into the Arippa-Aryankavu-Thenmala forests nearby and I began learning about birds. WWF-Kerala’s regular observational trips to forests were also a huge help in furthering my understanding of the species and I began to capture the sightings for posterity,” says Biju.
When in focus:
*Get a basic understanding of the species, their habitats, calls, nature and so on. “Indian Pitta is a winter bird that can be found foraging in the undergrowth. Babblers appear in flocks and they too can be found in the undergrowth, while, hornbills usually perch on boughs of tall trees. Hornbills love figs and can also be sighted near fig trees during fruiting season.”
*Know how to approach the birds. “It’s when you approach them standing tall that they feel threatened and take flight. Try hiding behind a tree, crawling, and stooping, instead,” he says.
ANJALI GOPAN
Fashion photography
Edgy with a touch of rusticity is what you can call Anjali’s clicks. The 27-year-old graduate of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, has been making a name for herself in fashion circles in Kerala and beyond for her conceptual artworks with the camera.
“I enjoy the fluidity of photography. Somehow, I’m drawn towards people and their stories than to nature. I find it relaxing while shooting people and interacting with them and my subjects tell me they feel the same when I train my camera on them,” says Anjali.
It’s the aesthetics rather than the commercial side of fashion that interests her. “I’m trying to rebuild my idyllic childhood through my photographs and everything that’s connected to home inspires me. I like working with designers who think nostalgic,” she says. That has made her the go to photographer for fashion brands like Rouka, and boutiques like Yarn and Czarina.
When in focus:
*Before the shoot, come up with a central concept and work outwards.
*The main challenge is finding the same wavelength with the designer.
SURAJ KHAN
Architecture photography
Suraj is not an architect but architecture photography is what fascinates him. “I studied commerce but I spent all my time in CET’s architecture department, hanging out with my cousin, Sajith Khan, and his friends as they talked, breathed and lived architecture. I can draw well and so they invited me to tag along with them to north Kerala, to help them document the architectural influences and details on heritage buildings there. I fell in love with the lines, planes, angles, and curves of the buildings and how they all seamlessly connected to the environment around them,” says Suraj. Architecture photography is said to be technically one of the most difficult and that’s why its still a niche field among photographers here. “The best architecture shots are the ones that are aesthetically pleasing as well as symmetrical representations of the building/space in focus,” he explains.
When in focus:
*Capture an exterior shot in ambient light. “Wait for that time of the day when the building looks most glamorous. You also have to take into account the best angle; the location; the building or space next to it; the differences in the sunlight in the summer and in the monsoon, in the coast and in the hills…”
*For interiors too ambient light is the way to go, though that may not be possible always. “Full lighting gives a flat image, whereas with ambient light, the resultant shadows give you the depth of the space,” he says.
HAREESH N. NAMPOOTHIRI
Classical arts photography
Many of the city’s stages are not exactly ambient spaces to click photos of classical art forms in all their beauty. Hareesh is one of the few photographers in the city whose shots of live action on stage balance technical and aesthetic finesse. He’s a visual design consultant, whose love for Kathakali, particularly the processes behind the scenes in the aniyara, inculcated in him a love for the arts. “When I started a blog on Kathakali a decade ago, I started clicking accompanying pictures with a bridge camera. Then I started taking photography seriously and over the years moved on to digital photography. As I got more opportunities to write on dance, my passion for clicking also grew,” he says.
When in focus:
*Basic understanding of the dance form and the style of the performer(s) is necessary.
*Anticipate what’s going to happen on stage and you can plan for the shot. “For instance, all performances have a crescendo and if you can capture that, there’s nothing like it,” he explains.
*Poor lighting or bad stage setting is an additional challenge but can be overcome with post-processing. “It’s an essential skill for a digital photographer but at the same time, it should not be like, everything will be done in post-processing.”
