Photography: A treat for the eyes and a pleasure for the soul!

Every generation has their sets of cool kids, with their sets of passion! Growing up, us 90s kids were surrounded by guitar playing ones! It was so cool to have that one friend who could just pick up the instrument and start playing “…her mind’s tiffany twisted/ she’s got a Mercedes Benz/ she got a lot of cute boys whom she calls friends”. But generations change and so does the definition of coolness!

If we are to believe the movie the social network, Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook out of boredom and in the process, maybe get popular. Ever since then, the need to be popular has surpassed, and mind you I am not saying this hyperbolically the need to eat, drink and be merry. With every move monitored and every face documented it has made a farce out of her existence and in the meantime, has resulted in a growing number of the sales of DSLRs.

If the guitar was the “thing” of our generation, this generation has their share of photographers. In fact, a popular meme has been trending, “behind every high definition photo of a girl, there’s a friend-zone DSLR guy”. Now is photography only something that needs to be cherished for the likes of social media? No, ever since the evolution of technology regarding cameras in the early 20th century, photography has developed by leaps and bounds to be the other mirror to hold out reflections or glares- defining gazes, probably the most powerful tool of modern man! If pictures speak a thousand words, then a photographer might be the greatest novelist!

Now with the emergence of blogs and the entire blogger community forming their exclusive set of hierarchy, photography and cameras have created their little niche! Recently the iconic brand Olympus curetted a particular series primarily catering to the needs of bloggers. All the smartphones are comparing their camera capabilities, pitting them against one and another, and there is a camera release every so often. It is almost as fashionable to click pictures as it was once to powder your nose in public.

Now with everything said and done, let us get into what one needs to be an excellent photographer:

• Now this might be the easiest to guess and the toughest to be, and this could potentially make you hate me, but since someone has got to do the dirty job here it is an eye! It is very easy to make beautiful things look great, but it is daunting to make ordinary things appear extraordinary- the perfect frame is not something that can be presented to you, but you can always create the perfect frame out of almost nothing.

• If you are a photographer, then you might already know that light is your best friend in the world. The ways in which you can use light are inexhaustible and the outcome more regarding than before.  And of course, angles, multiple angles give you multiple exposures making your subject look bigger or minute depending on it. For example, if you are photographing a human of slightly short height then you could always try squatting a bit which ensures the subject looks tall.
• This probably goes without saying that taking multiple shots of the same image is naturally more rewarding than simply being satisfied with a single click. Because checking out on a shot on the camera screen is fine, but it is when looking at it on a laptop or a desktop screen, do all the flaws appear to the naked eyes.
• But even if your dissatisfaction knows no bound, then to the powerful tool of editing can come to your rescue. And no I am not talking about photoshop, there are easier and friendlier tools out there. And sometimes all a photo needs is simply a touch up here and there! Perhaps a little adjustment on the exposure front or maybe a little shadow here and there! But you know what does not look nice at all? An over-edited photo is every photographer’s worst nightmare. And why shouldn’t it be? We all have eyes which want to see originality, not sepia laden over cross process led over an overexposed photo!

Ask any photographer, every one of them wishes to tell a story! And isn’t that what the world is made up of? Stories? Every human being that you see is a story! Every street, every house, every pavement tells a story. And when you have a camera, it becomes a hearing aid. It lets you listen. So what are you waiting for?