"You Don’t Take a Photograph, You Make It.”

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1. Tell us about your background and journey.

I have been exploring visual and literary media since graduation and have an experience honed over seven years, both on the ground and theoretically towards the execution of environmentally driven social projects. The desire for mass environmental consciousness drives me to re-unite nature, which sadly has effectively become a separate entity to the built or human environment. Action drives change, and although a single domino might not suffice, toppling the same in the right direction can and does lead to a massive chain reaction for the greater good. Not limited by specific mediums, I function with a compulsive need for evolving both my horizons and practice constantly.

2. How and when did you realize your passion for photography?

I have always had an inclination towards visual arts and an early exposure to a painting made the transition from text-based expression to still visuals relatively smooth. More than a passion, it began as a means to bridge patient reading and the increasingly short attention spans we are plagued with as a society. Unable to let go of that derivative introspection, I stick to photography as it has room for interpretation when compared to videography.

3. What are some tips you would like to share with amateur photographers?

It is just as important to spend time with your work critically as is creating new pieces. Repetitive exposure to the self yields nuances that might otherwise lay hidden or even ignored. In the same breath, it is equally important to abstain from obsession. Your best piece of work is not on paper, it should never be. I work with the belief that the best is yet to come, ideas that are real only within my mind, and it has never failed me once.

4. What are the important skills one should have to be a visual artist?

A closed mouth, eyes, and ears perked have always worked in my favor. While fluency in operating a camera does go without saying, technology has nowadays almost negated that barrier. The only hindrance is now personal bias and ideology, which becomes increasingly important now that the camera has been democratized and every individual is at par. It is essential to be aware of the subject at hand because polarisation of information can and does add rather than reduce the information frenzy we now live in.

5. What are the various opportunities available for aspiring photographers?

I myself am in the process of exploring the same. Retelling my story, I started out as a reporter for a national daily, moving on to photojournalism as my introduction to this field. Following this, I pursued commercial photo and videography, shot products, weddings, and a host of other event and advertisement related work. After a number of features with the Outlook Traveller magazine, I am now in the process of completing my master's degree in Photography design and had my first art exhibition with the Science Gallery, Bengaluru. This is an evolving field in the country, hence there is no set pattern or layout for success, do what quenches your thirst, and the world is your oyster.

6. Which is your favorite book and why?

I can't select a specific title, there are simply too many; but recently, I have been shifting from exclusively indulging in fiction to the world of non-fiction, only to find it indeed is stranger at its best. If I had to peg an individual though, it would be Roald Dahl. His explosively vivid imagination, simplified writing style has and continues to inspire me since childhood. Be it the best of my nights or the worst of my days, those titles are probably one of the closest friends and teachers I will ever have been exposed to.

- Chirantan Khastgir, Freelance Photographer

- Interviewed by Shilpy Sharan