Of late, street photography has been stirring the imagination of emerging photographers. Recently, Vineet Vohra, master street photographer and co-founder of Art Photo Feature (APF) magazine, addressed the new generation of photographers at the Leica store in New Delhi as part of the German luxury camera brand’s initiative, Coffee with Leica.
Excerpts:
In street photography, how does one take the right shot at the right time?
I think that impermanence being the core idea of street photography makes it even more interesting. The decision of taking a shot obviously depends upon the combination of one’s intuition and conscious knowledge, which makes taking a shot easy sometimes, but there’s an equal possibility of missing a shot too. But the shots you don’t take never happen! So just believe in yourself and your gut feeling and start clicking pictures. There are certain times when one waits for a shot, to support the story that’s going on in his mind, doing which is perfectly fine, but always having a reference image in mind and waiting to capture a similar shot, won’t help. Another specific thing is, while shooting try to stay closer to the subject, and for not making him or her conscious, look beyond the person; and always be confident, because when the photographer is confident, the subject never feels conscious, and you get the perfect candid shot.
How do you see the impact of photo editing softwares on the art?
Of course, it kills the natural factor or the real factor from the picture, which is why I never edit my pictures, and would try to communicate to the upcoming photographers that the viewer deserves to know whether the picture is a fact or a fiction. For me anything that is Photoshopped is fiction. It should be the closest possible to the picture that you see from your eyes. Street photography thrives on candidness, and processing kills it. Moreover, as per the purists, you can’t even crop the image, leave apart adding colours which are not there.
Image depicting human emotions in trance | Photo Credit: Vineet Vohra
Tell us about your personal experience and the ethics that you follow.
Firstly, I never stage or process my pictures, and try to present the scene in its original form to the viewers. I never shoot beggars, poor people or pregnant women, and if I am not close to about eight inches to the person, I don’t shoot. Once I have faced an objection shooting, for which I was arrested at Brussels. And I always depend on my gut feeling.
What tips do you recommend to a youngster who wants to pursue street photography?
If you are talking about this generation of kids, I have seen that a lot of them taking pictures just to post them on Facebook or Instagram and get a lot of likes. So the first question I would like to ask the them is, “Why do you take pictures?” and once they have the answer to that, I am sure they can move much ahead with it, because street photography is like writing a diary, which one does for oneself. Another thing is that never be bothered about the audiences. The only thing you should keep in mind is that your next picture should be better than your last picture. It doesn’t really matter which equipment you use, but if you have the best, there’s always an edge. Rest depends upon how you do it so just pick up your camera, step out of the house, and follow your passion!
Vineet Vohra
What do you have to say about the culture of street photography in India?
It’s a culture growing like mad, and it’s good to see so many people wanting to specialise in this genre, which doesn’t pay that much and is the genre that you do for yourself. There was a time five years back when only fashion photographers and wedding photographers were doing well, but now people are getting interested in this particular genre too.