Photography - My point of view

Why give it a meaning?

I have been asked many times, what thoughts run in my mind when I lift my camera to capture an image.  And I am always at a loss to answer this seemingly simple question. I have been advised by many people to think of or to philosophies my reasons for choosing a subject.  Unfortunately for me it does not work that way. Frankly, never ever any deep thoughts or philosophy take over my mind when I see the subject I want to click.  It is just an instinct which makes me choose a subject.  Some inherent beauty I see in it, may be a beauty which only I see.

My vision of Wheat fields

 For me it is something to do with feeling, subject raises in me, which may not be profound at all. It can be just framing I like, composition I like, abstractness of it which I like, face I like, shape I like. At the end they all represent my vision. What I find most difficult is to give reason behind my capture.  What thoughts ran in my mind when I clicked?  I would say none. There is no reason, there is just love of capturing what I see and what I experience. Feeling of oneness I get with my subject obliterates all other thoughts from my mind. It is pure meditation where no thought exists. It is me and my subject to the exclusion of everything else.

Me and My subject - Nothing else exists

So when I am asked what you were thinking, I turn blank, because at the moment of capture I was in conversation with my subject and not thinking.  When I look at my picture later on, I give it a thought, trying to attach a reason and I always fail, because that seed is not there. It is very difficult for me to give my feelings a name, my experience a title. In rare cases, it suddenly springs and then I realise that it is not related to experience of the time of capture, but it is related to something which I may be feeling at that particular moment. 

I do not have a habit to go in search of a meaning of other photographer's photo or try to go deep into photographer's mind. May be a trait I should develop. I feel that each one of us has a different way of "looking" at things. For me it boils down to whether I like the way of his or her, looking at the subject.  And here looking does not have any deep meaning attached to it. For me it is like love at a first sight. I like it at a first glance or I do not.I appreciate the vision of the photographer. 

I do photography to go away from it all, to leave all seriousness of life behind, to attain that blankness of purpose. Can’t something be done for the fun of it, for the enjoyment you get out of it? Why give it a meaning?

My heart lies in...

After spending 6 years in the filed of photography and many dialogues with myself, I have reached a firm conclusion, my heart and interest lies in the genre of  abstract photography. 

Intricacies interpreted

Abstract photography and all its genre captivate my imagination. Abstract, Realistic abstract, Abstract expressionism all interest me as art forms and I try to interpret and use those forms in my photography. Abstract photography is the way I see, experience and feel the world around me. 

I do enjoy street photography including candid street portraits , for completely different reasons. Street photography gives me opportunity to travel, to meet people and reach wider audience. In its broad definition, Street photography  documents the world as it exists. Being an abstract photographer, I always try to give that little abstract twist to the street photography I do, as I prefer to interpret the scene in front of me as I feel it.

Yellowed Canvas

Waiting for the words....

Among the cacophony of sounds,
She,
Listens,
Words yet not sung,
Reads
Stories yet not written,
Imagines,
Future yet not known.

She rests her pencil,
On the scratched and yellowed canvas,
As she waits,
For the words,
She needs to write one day.

Do I see in abstract?

Someone asked me very interesting question. Do you see in abstract or do you create an abstract? Question which made me think about my photography , which can be fairly abstract or sometimes rather strongly so.

Abstract look at the palm leaf

If you look at the palm leaf above , one thing becomes very clear that I do look at my subject in an abstract manner. For me it is not a palm leaf but some object with a strong shadow and lovely textures.That is the first thing I noticed about it. Moment I saw it this way, it stopped being a palm leaf. This confirms the first part of the question that I do look at things in an abstract manner.

While I was shooting this photograph, I realised that by taking a photo at certain angle, I can make it look like steps. And I shot it according to that vision. This confirms the second part of the question that I create an abstract.

I don't think any artist, and I consider myself a photo artist, restricts herself or himself to thinking in one particular way. It is a constantly evolving process which ends with the saving of the edited version of the photo in the hard disk and even beyond.