Photography Workshop

There are many types of arts: writing, painting, music, and cinema. I knew about that all, but recently I got to know about a different art: photography. I always wondered how people are able to click such wonderful photographs, but now I know.

On August 17, the Department of English organised a photography workshop to introduce the new art form of photography. New art in the sense that it started to be considered an art in the late 19th century. Our department invited Kaushik Ghelani sir, to help enhance our photography skills. The workshop was divided into two parts. In the first part, we learned about the rules of clicking photographs, framing, and using the cameras. In the second part, we clicked photographs on our own, and then Kaushik sir discussed what mistakes one should avoid while clicking photographs.

(Kaushik Ghelani sir sharing his photos while explaining the art of photography.)

In the first part of the workshop, we learned many things. Before clicking the photograph, one should create a frame in mind about what type of photo one wants to click. And according to Kaushik sir, "it's not about the camera that you own; it's about the skill that you have that is going to decide whether you are a good photographer or not". Framing plays a vital role in photography; how one sees the world determines how one captures it. If we look around us, everyone has a smartphone. On smartphones, too, there are so many features that we are not aware of. One can click good pictures with the mobile camera too. Sometimes we don't know our equipment well. That's why we lack the skill of photography, according to Kaushik, sir. We don't have to take many courses to learn photography; it's a skill that can be developed through experience.

(This photo was clicked by Avani Jani, a third-semester student of the Department of English, as a task given by Kaushik sir.)

In addition, Kaushik Sir talked about the background story of the photo. One has to create a story that appeals to the viewers. For example, in the above photograph, one can see that the flowers are breaking their boundaries and trying to go beyond the limits, so when we click a photo, we should always consider the message behind the photograph. Moreover, Kaushik sir said that it's nothing like being a professional photographer. Everyone can be a photographer, but the condition is that one should know how to see the world.

As we see asthenic values in any other art form, it applies to photography as well. It has its own charm in terms of beauty, emotions, and background story. When we can feel the thrill in our hearts while looking at any art, then we can consider it a pure form of art. We also learned many technical things in photography, like foreground, midground, and background. One thing that is really important in photography is 'breathing space'. While clicking on any photograph, one should avoid extra zooming. For example, when we click on a photograph of a bird, one should add some space so the viewer can see where the bird is sitting or going. One should also avoid negative space; that means when in the frame there is nothing interesting, that place should be avoided from the frame. One should always know what to include and exclude from the frame.

There are also many composition rules in photography. For example, the Golden Ratio, the Rule of One Third, leading lines, patterns, and symmetry These are some basic rules that one should consider in the art of photography. There is another rule that was added by Kaushik sir, 'Breaking the Rule'. It is not always necessary to tie up to the rule; we can explore more in this art that is yet to be discovered. So through experience, we can learn more than what is predefined by someone else. Kaushik sir also talked about videography. The same rules apply to videography as well as to photography. He also mentioned that "a good videographer must have been a good photographer".

After the first session, Kaushik sir gave us the task of clicking photographs on our campus and selecting the best five images to share with him. For that, we have an hour. When we returned to the class, everyone shared their photographs. Then, we discussed what types of mistakes we have made in capturing photographs and what the good things about the photos are. Sir also gave three ranks to the students who clicked the best pictures. At last, all the winners got gifts, and some students shared their experiences related to the workshop.

 

(These are some photographs clicked by me for the task given by Kaushik sir)

It was a really good learning experience for us to have Kaushik sir with us. Now, when I see my old photographs that were clicked by me, I can identify the mistakes that I made, and I know how to avoid them in the future.