Assignment 101

101- Photographing each other by "Anita Khemka"

lensing at Kutub Minar -Ashima with Nilay

Photographers 'take photographers', 'make photographers', 'construct photographers, 'create' photographs etc. I am trying to understand the boundary between 'making' and 'taking' photographs. Taking photographs doesn't always involve seeking permission from the subject or their participation. Making photographs on the other hand, requires either some or total collaboration between the subject and the photographer.

Documentary photography involves both approaches - one, where the subject is both aware and participates in the image making. The second approach involves photographing the subject in an unobtrusive manner without their formal/written or informal consent. The consent of the 'other' in photography is a complicated one and this needs careful thought and understanding. This session helped in representational aspect in theory as well as in practical usage.

I grabbed the importance from a photographer's point of view that what it means to be photographed. This assignment was about negotiating one's level of comfort and discomfort when the camera is pointed at self.

With my partner, Nilay, as a subject we mutually decided to shot at Kutub Minar, Mehrauli. I initially captured 57 images, and after my first edit, I came up with some 15 decent images.

What was in my mind during executing this assignment?

1) To click the moment, not to create the moment.

2) To try not to make the subject conscious of the presence of camera

3) Not to capture to close ups, but the environment where subject is into.

4) To capture simple gestures without caring much about lights, sharpness and rest technical details.

5) To document the regular existence of the subject and its mergence with the surroundings within a balanced image.

How long we took to photograph each other?

40-45 min

How was it to be in front of camera?

Both Nilay, and myself decided not to be aware and conscious about this assignment. We did not pose for each other. We both silently did our work, thus personal experience of facing the camera in this assignment was to some extend, neutral. I was not conscious, and neither we posed at each other.