Photographers are often asked about the equipment they use, while it’s common knowledge that a good camera and lens alone aren’t enough to produce arresting images. The conversation about photography needs to go beyond the redundant queries, believes Arvind Chenji, president of Telangana Photographic Society (TPC). Why not explore the thought process of the photographer when he/she decided to capture a moment for posterity? TPC’s first e-magazine called Focus (focusemag.com) attempts to do this through its in-depth interviews with master photographers. The magazine’s first edition deep dives into the work of Raghu Rai and Robb Kendrick.
Focus was launched on September 12 evening with an online attendance of photography enthusiasts. Focus is intended to be a monthly online magazine featuring interviews with both Indian and international photographers, an antique corner that narrates the story of an iconic camera, and an analysis of the life and work of an erstwhile photography legend (Homai Vyarawalla in the first edition). The magazine will also be featuring a contest, information on photography workshops and more.
Arvind had been planning to launch a photography magazine, in print, since he took over as president of TPC two years ago. “The common perception is that an image is good if it’s sharp and goes on to win some photography award. There’s no dearth of associations giving away awards and that cannot be a yardstick to judge an image. We need a practical, educational approach towards photography,” he says.
The magazine will aim to offer better insights into the art form and TPC wants Focus to be read by everyone, not just photographers. Within two days of the launch, there have been 1600 registrations for the monthly online magazine and nearly 1000 views of the magazine on Sunday.
Arvind hopes that budding photographers will take back a few key points to make their images stand out. He also hopes that aspiring photographers will pause before following the herd. He cites an example of how Bengaluru has many aspiring wildlife photographers just because there’s a spotlight on a few well-known wildlife photographers from the region. “Similarly, there’s a tendency among many in Hyderabad and other nearby regions to head to Araku to film tribals and their lifestyles. During the lockdown, I came to know that someone even hired people, asked them to pose like tribals in Vikarabad and tried to pass it off as Araku. Such practices need to stop,” Arvind explains, highlighting the tendency to follow the clichés.
(For the magazine, look up focusemag.com)
