Is It Really Hard To See Someone Learning?

Written by Anurag Bhateja on October 12, 2009 – 7:45 am -

I know this is quite controversial thing to comment on nature of anyone out there so I am not going to take the names of people whom I want to do critic on ;). I am following the theory of play safe here :D. What happened is, I was coming back from Panchkula to Chandigarh with Naveen and we chatted on some issues which we were watching from last many months.

First let me tell you something about Naveen. Naveen Choudhary, a very intelligent human being who can get logic out of anything. I, sometimes feel that I am lucky to have friends like him around who can not only say good about you on your face but can also critic you when it is needed.

Okay, lets get back to point. We were discussing on the nature of people which change a lot with time. The talk started with Gurdaas Maan Night which is going to take place in Chandigarh soon went to Shekhar Suman and some other actors of the industry. Till then the outcome came to be something very depressive that old gems like Gurdaas Maan are very down to earth and simple but the new generation of actors is arrogant and bit irritating.

Somehow the talk was turned to photographers (Well this is common between me and Naveen so its obvious). We discussed over the unwanted attitude of photographers of in, around the city and from different parts of the country. As all say, there are black sheep in every field but I think photography is a field, where there are more of them. I remember once I was told that in old times if you go to a photographer and want to learn, then you have to be his/her “mundu” or you can say slave for the time till s/he lets you touch his/her camera. Time has changed now after the revolution of digital photography but the attitude of these photographers remains the same. They do not want you to learn but will make you stand there watching them like dummies for long and long and long.They will neither allow you to spend time on your equipment, nor encourage you to go for contests.

Naveen told me about two very famous photographers of India and explained the difference between their nature. He told that one of his colleagues got a chance to spend time and do assignments with both the photographers and found that both are equally good in photography but the difference between their nature is tremendous. The first photographer was arrogant. Why I am saying that? Actually what happened was, one day they went to shoot the assignment where the junior photographer saw a very good composition and immediately got his camera out to click but that “Amazing photographer” stopped him in a way that the composition is not good at all. After few moments he was clicking the same composition found by the junior.

On the other hand, the junior photographer got a chance to meet one other photographer and do assignment with him. On the way, they found one baby donkey in a amazing composition and the senior photographer started clicking it. Keeping the last incident in mind, the junior didn’t get the camera out and when the senior photographer turned, he scolded him and said “Ab khinch le! Bhagne ki wait kar raha hai kya? dubara nai milega yeh saari zindagi fir baith ke royega” which means “Click it now or you are waiting him to run? This composition will not be there in future and whole life you will cry for not clicking it”.

Now see the difference between the first and the second one. This is what I am talking about. No doubt due to digital revolution, the photographers are not paid as they were for their work but I do not understand why don’t they think of the phrase “Every photograph is sell-able no matter it goes for $1 or $100″.

I feel it is better to spend some money and go to a good institute to learn. At least they tell you how to use the equipment and let you try it out. I spend a lot of time juggling here and there to learn. Checked Internet. Got information from friends, but when I did the self assignment and joined CFC, the real me came out which can be seen in my photostream on flickr.

I know I am not that good enough to say that I am a professionally sound photographer but I know I am on the right path of becoming at least a good enough photographer. It will take time and too much of learning but I feel its easy to learn yourself then to go somewhere and learn. Sometimes the person in front of you showoff a lot but from inside s/he is nothing but a piece of junk who can not help you in going ahead. Even in our group there are people who said a lot about their stuff and work but they just vanished with time as the real colors come in front of other members. After coming for 1-2 meetings they are now nowhere! Friends like Vijay Singh Bainsla, Ravi, Sandeep, Kshitiz, Nachiketa are good in their clicks and the best part is they share the information with free mind. How can anyone in the group forget that Vijay, despite of being so busy, spent time with us teaching the very basic of photography like the combination of shutter speed and aperture. Ravi who not only shared his hidden collections with us but also shared the information on how to shoot in lack of equipment. Sandeep who has good hand on portraits never say I can teach but make you teach out of nowhere and Kshitiz whose compositions are always encouraging one and Nachiketa who is a master of bird and animal spotting.

On the other hand Members like Varun, Mohd. Safdar, Naveen, Ashwani, Anurag, Cheena, Deenu, Gautam, Nipun are always there to help and learn in every situation. No matter its about photography or not they will come forward and show that they are in your life. I admire the commitment of all of them towards photography and love the way the behave when we are together. Though none of us claim that we are professional photographers and can click better than others but we all have our own forte. If anyone find anything while clicking in group, we do not feel like not telling to others. Sometimes, we say it so loudly that the subject runs away :P excitement!! hehe.

Life is good with these friends and learning is better with them. We all look on Internet, play with camera, share information on tutorials, share links, kick each other for parties and play with photographs but we all know how important is “give respect and take respect”. No matter Anurag Malhotra is elder to me, he will come and ask me to teach. No matter Cheena is younger to me, if I find the composition good I will ask him how he clicked.

Is this attitude missing in those “so called” professional photographers or God gives only one thing to them i.e. either skill to click or being down to earth? Why can’t they remember that only a tree with fruits will bend. When I search for the answer I find “Who the hell am I to think?” Leave them alone with their small hallucination of being “the best” and enjoy clicking with your friends and mentors. Learning and teaching is part of this field and only s/he can flourish who can respect the feelings of other person. If you kick someone in front of others, s/he will kick back for sure one day or the other.

Go ahead, click but please be down to earth. Happy clicking.




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Posted in My Life My Thoughts | 7 Comments »

Important Information for Photographers Regarding NetGeo Contest

Written by Anurag Bhateja on March 26, 2009 – 1:01 pm -

The following information is posted in CFC thread by Udit Kulshrestha. This piece of information is very important as by joining the contest you may loose your copyright over the submitted photograph.

Udit Kulshrestha Says:

I came across the NGC Moments Awards and while going through the Terms and Conditions also came across Pt 9 which states,

“The pictures, clippings and films uploaded/posted on the Website shall be so done under an irrevocable, royalty free license and an applicant hereby accordingly grants NGC the right to use the picture/clipping in any medium anywhere in the world in perpetuity.”

and pt 11.,
NGC will have the right to use the pictures without the credits of the author/producer/owner of the image or the movie clipping

www.natgeotv.co.in/MomentAwards/TermsandConditions.aspx

In the interest of unsuspecting photographers, I am of the opinion that is an unethical business practise to hoodwink an amateur or an enthusiast who is not aware of terms like ‘royalty free’, ‘any medium’ or ‘perpetuity’ or its implications for an incentive like a free gift.

Also, I find it an unfair trade practice that an agency of the repute of National Geographic is involved in.

My communication to you is for the simple reason that we as a photographic community should not endorse the same by non participation as well as by spreading the word of caution.

I am spreading the word about this to all relevant communities, media and sponsors alike to ensure malpractises such as these do not spread further at least in India and if we as a photography community donot set standards or educate fellow photographers’, corporates like nat geo will benefit commercially at the expense of the photographer.

Lets join hands in this folks




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Posted in Freak Is Updating | 2 Comments »

From Newstand to food plates — CFC Rocks!!

Written by Anurag Bhateja on March 12, 2009 – 5:31 pm -

Confused by the title? Hehe I was laughing for atleast 10 minutes after receiving the call!!! Actually what happened, few days back a Dainik Bhaskar (Hindi Daily) covered our photographers’ group CFC a.k.a. Chandigarh Flickr Club which can be seen here on Kaustabh’s Flickr Page. Till today, all was fine and I am still receiving calls and mails as people are interested in joining.

But amuzingly today, I recieved a call which was disconnected by the caller. Unintentionally, I called back but he didn’t answered so I sent a message asking who is he. In return I received his call. What he told me, I am writing word to word.

He: Aapne Dainik Bhaskar mein koi article diya tha? (Have you given article in newspaper?)
Me: Nahin unhone group cover kiya tha… (No. Newspaper covered the group)
He: Achcha.. (Ok)
Me: Hanji bataiye. (Yes, tell me)
He: Woh main khana khane aaya hua tha to jis akhbar mein yeh article aaya hua hai usmein dhabe wale ne roti lapet k de di. Abhi main pad hi rha tha ki aapka call aagaya. Main aapko pad k call karta hun. (Oh, I was having lunch and Dhaba people have given me the roti in the same paper in which your article was there. I will call you back after reading it.)

Shocked and amused by the way he came to know about the group, I am still laughing while writing this! Now I wonder what next will come!




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Posted in Freak Is Updating | 4 Comments »

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