Friday, January 20, 2012

The Difference Between a Photo Blogger and a Photo Journalist

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The photo blogger which includes me too is a rare specie in the photography world, the photo blogger as in my case is an inexperienced amateur photographer driven by the poetic madness of timelessness and pathos and prose.

The photo blogger shoots the soul of eternity within the drop of a tear falling from a human eye or capturing Kabala within the canvas of blood grime and gore..he documents society religion customs and rituals gets abused gets his balls smashed metaphorically speaking because he shoots truth and truth is what the righteous sanctimonious does not want at all.

The demand on the photo blogger is excessive his pictures will be restricted because blood hurts humanity more than frontal nudity but yet if I posted nude Naga Sadhus everyone would take delight in ogling at a body part that god made and has been reduced to porn and pederasty

Sometimes I wonder , and I am amused too, shooting beggars is looked down upon, and photography has come through a lot of change thanks to the photo blog that destroyed the myth of photography.

Now even you can shoot bad pictures like me and get away with it provided you add a few words of realism as street poetry.

Now on the other hand even a three year old child can shoot better pictures and photography is in ones blood either you inherit it or it is bequeathed to you by a Guru.

The so called newspaper photographer or media photographer is much luckier a Mumbai Mirror or Midday or HTA or a DNA press card he gets entry even to areas like Lasalgaon where pictures are raining as onions , fuck it makes me weep , and the lack of newness and lack of originality but yes gifted with a high end camera he shoots eternity too.

I dont envy him at all nor am I intimidated by him, I learnt photography late in life but I was under the influence of the best of Indian photographers when I did a stint as a fashion designer cum model coordinator for Mudra Communications ..a very shot spell that was doomed much before it started .

And I never in the furthest of my imaginations ever thought I would ever hold a camera I saw Pablo Bartholomew shoot in natural light, I hated studio photography but I saw Vilas Bhende Suresh Cordo , Suresh Seth Shantanu Sheorey Mr Mitter Bedi Mr Oberoi, Nadim Naorojee Adrian Stevens Chin Win Lee and so many others I wont drop names and it helped in more ways than one.

I was lucky to have not one but three Gurus when I took the path of photography Mr Shreekanth Malushte late Prof BW Jatkar and the one and only Mr KG Maheshwari. and also my camera club PSI Of Mumbai.

So today when I see onion pictures being forced up my rectum I feel I took a better option shooting rituals Hijras beggars and body piercing rafaees and Shia kids walking on fire in a remote village of Tamilnadu at Jigdevi.


And perhaps for the first time in my life I have kept away from the rafaees and the bawas of Maqdoom Shah Baba Dhuni where the Urus continues.

And for the first time I have Muslim beggar ladies in burka pushing the kids in their arms to be shot and I turn a Nelsons eye..

I shot onions too at the Bandra Bazar Road as a record picture because I am waiting for it to reach the peak price of Rs 500 a kg...

I once bought chicken for Rs 5 a kg in the same market when people shied away from buying chicken..and the poor beggar I accost tells me Sir when will the Chicken flu return.

And last about politics they replace tainted ministers but still keep a tainted system that sucks..
People on the top get away with oratorical skills...

The difference between a photo blogger and a photojournalist is very simple both shoot with a camera one shoots with a click of his mouth .. no mouse.

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