If you see Nerjis watching the photographer shoot us , you can understand her dilemma ,but the person who shot us was a passer by educated , perhaps not comfortable with the DSLR ..
And this was shot a long time back , when I whisked her away without informing her parents to Juhu Beach and I can only take her within the boundary of Bandra Bazar , no further ..
Now she is 3 year old with sophisticated camera etiquette not taught in camera manuals , first she places the camera strap around her neck, she than holds the camera sits down ladylike and takes her shot , she than checks the monitor , perhaps she is aping me in some ways .
She spots a picture and I let her shoot it , first it was tame stuff ,beggars , kids , than she shot St Peters Church the crosses at the Bazar , the Ganpati Pandals , the Ram Mandir ,,I let her love become a passion...from the day she was born I blessed her with the camera .
She is intuitive ,but more than taking pictures I taught her humility through the beggars and the poor kids in the slums ..I buy toys I ask her to give it to the poor kids , and I nurtured her as a little plant and I see her bloom each day..
So one thing is certain she will never become a Bigot , we have many around us ,she wont be a racist , and when she shot a Hijra for the first time I explained to her the meaning of respect for all.
So obviously with such human groundings I dont think she will ever join a camera club , and she meets the best international photographers who come home ,she knows Flickr Facebook , and most of all she knows the Internet ,,
Dada picture Internet par dal diya ,, these are her words ,, when she sees her images on my photostream.
I learnt photography very late in life ,,now through her I am unlearning everything all over again ..and it is No Fuck F Stops .
