STORY TIME - Photographing a photographer.
I met Siva Sai when we studied Visual Communication in college together. He taught me some basics and complexities of a camera. That was then, 4 years on after college and we never met or were never in touch. I only knew that he chose to become a documentary photographer. Calling him after 4 years to ask if he would like to be my subject was almost like asking him for his appointment. I was nervous to shoot him. To know that he knows just as much about a camera as i do, probably more. When i first met him again after 4 years, he told me something which at that time sounded very pretentious and weird, he said and i quote "I no longer need a camera to take a picture" . That line stuck with me more than i thought it would. Working in kashmir he witnessed some of the worst atrocities and he give a voice to the people of kashmir through his camera, he was bound to have a different outlook on life than the rest of us. I understood that he was well beyond the conventional rules and theories that defined a photograph. I got an opportunity to learn a lot from him again in the 2 months he was in chennai. But I was still very nervous to shoot him, almost intimidated. In the end he never judged my pictures for the light or composition, he only tried to see himself in the pictures and I hope he did.
