Even though I'm kinda judgmental, I like to believe that I am not very judgmental because it is something that I am consciously working upon. But there are times when one comes across things/issues/people where you don't want to be without an opinion. And a strong one at that.
I just saw a couple of pictures clicked by a gentleman who had recently visited Chandni Chowk for the first time. His profile suggests that he is very much Indian, so I want to assume that he knows that the country has certain areas that need to be worked upon - by educated people. The reason why I say this is that his pictures upset me. I do not see a reason why one may want to click bhook, gareebi, pain, garbage, people sleeping on the streets, if the motive is not to do anything about it. The people who are seeing those pictures can only be Indians or non-Indians. I don't believe there is any other category. The Indians must definitely have seen those things, and the non-Indians (a lot of them) must have believed those things about India ever since they first heard about the country. He seems to have a story that he is building with those shots, I would have been happier to see him attempting to de-build that story. And why on earth would you want to post those pictures on a thread where people are showcasing the best that they clicked in that place?!
I am not suggesting that we turn our faces away from the reality, or project ourselves as something that we are not, but won't you rather click the colour present in the lives of the people in this country than the colour you see in a faded coke disposable glass floating in garbage? That's not much to ask if you don't think you can help any of those people who don't have a home. If you're clicking a human, if not ANYthing else, at least you can make him/her happy by showing them the pictures that you're clicking. But could this man show a mother her half-naked crying child's photo and give her the feel-good factor?
I know I am nobody to pass comments, but I want to. And I do not even want to direct any traffic to those pictures.
And then there are those who are appreciating the work.
Ugh!
P.S. Sometimes one is warned that the pictures may be disturbing, but these did not even have any sense of emotion attached to them. Plain disappointing!
I just saw a couple of pictures clicked by a gentleman who had recently visited Chandni Chowk for the first time. His profile suggests that he is very much Indian, so I want to assume that he knows that the country has certain areas that need to be worked upon - by educated people. The reason why I say this is that his pictures upset me. I do not see a reason why one may want to click bhook, gareebi, pain, garbage, people sleeping on the streets, if the motive is not to do anything about it. The people who are seeing those pictures can only be Indians or non-Indians. I don't believe there is any other category. The Indians must definitely have seen those things, and the non-Indians (a lot of them) must have believed those things about India ever since they first heard about the country. He seems to have a story that he is building with those shots, I would have been happier to see him attempting to de-build that story. And why on earth would you want to post those pictures on a thread where people are showcasing the best that they clicked in that place?!
I am not suggesting that we turn our faces away from the reality, or project ourselves as something that we are not, but won't you rather click the colour present in the lives of the people in this country than the colour you see in a faded coke disposable glass floating in garbage? That's not much to ask if you don't think you can help any of those people who don't have a home. If you're clicking a human, if not ANYthing else, at least you can make him/her happy by showing them the pictures that you're clicking. But could this man show a mother her half-naked crying child's photo and give her the feel-good factor?
I know I am nobody to pass comments, but I want to. And I do not even want to direct any traffic to those pictures.
And then there are those who are appreciating the work.
Ugh!
P.S. Sometimes one is warned that the pictures may be disturbing, but these did not even have any sense of emotion attached to them. Plain disappointing!
5 comments:
I agree completely to it.......and i remember the pic u r talking about.......but not all of them are bad....and then again thinking behind taking the pic could be subjective.....
One thing about photographs I like is that every photographer has his / her own reason for taking a shot. From that angle, I think the person is justified in taking those shots. Personally poverty as a subject doesn't appeal me, as I know it doesn't appeal to you. But we can't stop someone from taking his shot, can we?
Having said that, if the series of photograph depicting poverty is projected as "India", that would be disappointing.
DK
Hmm. It has to be subjective, otherwise he would never have clicked those pictures. So there isn't really anything I can do about it. To each his own.
B. O'Hemian
We've already talked about it. :-)
To each his own, I guess. Of course, only as long as it is not harming anyone.
Maybe he had some reason for taking those shots. But, if he has taken those shots jsut to post them on a website and not to do anything good for those unfortunate people, then I agree with you. There is no use taking such shots if we can't help the people. In that case, it's better to take the happy shots.
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