1. What is your earliest memory of how or what attracted you to photography?
Well, I was always fascinated by photographs. My father had this huge old album with tiny photographs of his grandfather and other family members pinned inside and for me, the album was one big book of wonder, for I’d never met any of those people in there. It was a book of reference, a book of imagination of people and their lives.
Then my uncle had a 35mm Mamiya with which a lot of my childhood photographs were made, and beautifully enough, I own that camera today. So, it was family albums that drew me to photographs as a child.
2. While doing your post grad diploma in Social Communication Media at Sophia’s, did you study photography? If so, what did you learn there?
35mm film photography was part of the curriculum as a part of filmmaking and appreciation. Our tutor, Jeroo Mulla, introduced us to the great masters of photography, namely Henri Cartier-Bresson, Jacques Lartigue, Andre Kertesz, Raghubir Singh, William Eggleston and Ansel Adams among others. The focus was on composition, historical reference and photography as a document of time. So, we learnt on film cameras and shared Nikon FE and FM cameras between a large group of young women for assignments on the program.
3. How and when did you arrive at the Indian Express as a senior photographer? Is this the kind of photography that you were interested in from the beginning – traveling the country and photographing news, entertainment, and sports stories?
I actually joined the Indian Express as a trainee first, in 2005, and then moved up to becoming a senior photographer in the second year. A classmate of mine, now a senior journalist, actually told me to go with a portfolio to see the editor of the Indian Express in Bombay, in 2005, right after I finished my program. I landed the job the same week and plunged into news photography without any prior plan. I enjoyed it immensely because it opened up the country to me in a way that I’d never thought of seeing it before. It also forced me to be more social than I am, in the sense of talking to people on the ground and getting to know their stories before I photographed them. I’m fairly shy so this worked as a good social experiment on myself, as well!
I didn’t really know what “kind” of photography I was interested in back then. I just wanted to learn what was possible; and then, on the job, I realized that I liked certain situations more than others.
4. Having been a senior news photographer, why did you decide to become a photo editor? Did having the experience of being a photographer inform your work as a photo editor?
Well, it’s not something I decided to do. I moved to Time Out Delhi in 2009, after my stint at the Indian Express, and I was their chief photographer for some months before the photo editor position was offered to me. It was an entirely new role, much less shooting and more editing, working with design and editorial. Yes, being a photographer did inform my work as a photo editor, but I feel like a photo editor’s role is a very responsible one. One really needs to love working with photographs beyond just the idea of ownership of one’s personal work. There needs to be an equal amount of interest in working with text, design, and the interplay between them and photography. I definitely learnt on the job there.
5. I would imagine that working as a news photographer for 3 years and then as a photo editor for 2 years, one would have a great understanding of photography. What made you choose to do a Master’s in Photography and Urban Culture? Why did you choose London?
By the time I left to do my MA in London, I had six full years of work experience as a photojournalist and an editor. There was no program in India that interested me, since I didn’t want to learn photography as it’s taught in institutions here. Also, there was no MA offered in any of the universities here. At Goldsmiths, the MA Photography and Urban Cultures was based in the Sociology department. It is a practice-based MA and I was entirely sure that this was the course for me since it opened up the idea of cities, migration, navigation, and cultures through the lens of photography and photographic theory. The classroom was a mix of students who had experience in art history, architecture, nursing, history, sociology, and what not. It was an immense learning experience and has definitely been the course of study that has left a huge impact on the direction of my visual exploration.
6. How has this education informed your practice?
This is hard to answer. I’ve become very focused about compartmentalizing my thoughts after my second MA (at Goldsmiths, London). I understand cities better, the lived experiences in cities, their rhythm and my whole understanding of the practice of street photography and the importance of aimless exploration. Photography for me now isn’t a benchmark that exists to define a genre, rather a medium that exists alongside several other visual media in order to aid the understanding of society and cultures.
7. In your opinion, is it important to have a formal training in photography?
It really depends on what kind of visual learning one is looking to inculcate in one’s practice. Any artistic medium is endless in its possibilities and, hence, an education is always relevant. I still think I could do several more courses that inform my practice. And that doesn’t necessarily have to be technical learning – theory and contemporary practice is as important as learning how to handle a camera.
8. What does your job entail as the Head, National Photo Desk at Hindustan Times (HT)?
I head a team that works with staff and freelance photographers from the point of commission, execution of ideas, working on captions, and finally editing and curating images for the organization for news production, whether it be print or digital. It’s a huge responsibility, and visual ethics is a big consideration on a daily basis in a country that is plagued by fake news and sensational imagery. So, the photo desk is almost like a regulator of images that come into the system. I work closely with the editorial staff, understanding their stories, the word count, the layout and how images need to play up text and vice versa. The job is dynamic, because it shapes itself into something new almost every day.
9. You have worked as a photographer, editor, curator, now heading the Desk at HT, and you continue to write on photography. Which gives you the most satisfaction and why?
I love images, so I enjoy all kinds of engagement with photography. Of course, if I had a little more time, I’d like to write more on photography and make some more personal work. But, at this point, I am driven to change the way news photography is produced and consumed. It’s a huge task and overwhelming on most days, but even the smallest of changes makes a huge difference, and the aim is to leave a legacy of ethical photojournalism and visual editing in the newsroom in a manner that it becomes a habit, and not a mere consideration.
10. Digital technology has changed photography drastically over the last few years. Did you initially embrace the changes or resist them? Do you believe the changes have been good for the medium or not?
I’ve never thought of any kind of technological transition as a good or bad thing. It’s a change, and my first response to change is curiosity. So, yes; I was quick to adapt to digital, and I think it’s made the medium more fluid, accessible, and uncertain. It was bound to happen. I know it’s made the medium an unending vessel of images, and that can be messy to handle and understand, and easier to misinterpret, actually. Take what’s happening with fake news and memes and all of that.
11. You taught photography at Kamla Nehru College at Delhi University and helped to formulate a new curriculum for their photography paper at the BA level, as well. What got you interested in teaching?
I’ve always been drawn to teaching. I wanted to do a PhD and teach and have my practice alongside. In fact, I got through to four universities in London for my PhD in 2012, with excellent tutors ready to supervise me, but unfortunately, London at that time was in deep recession and had no funded programs for non-EU students (especially for photography). I even taught statistics to a couple of students who were my juniors, while I was still in my final year of BA (economics). So, yes, teaching is something that is very important to me as an ideology. Imparting any kind of knowledge is as important as receiving it.
12. If you were to design a photo program for aspiring photographers in India, what would it look like?
That’s hard to answer. I’d like photography to be part of the school curriculum, because I feel that children have a wonderful, original, and eccentric response to what they see around them. And that can educate us all. And yes, of course, degree, post-grad, and all the way up to postdoctoral research. I have very considered ideas about photography education, and it always includes a practice-based approach.
13. What tends to draws you to work on a certain idea?
I’ve noticed that I’m very drawn to memory, be it others’ or my own. That pretty much covers everything then, since memories comprise events in the personal and the public realm. I read for months and years before it appeals to me as something I could pursue visually. And sometimes I drop the idea entirely because it might just not work out the way I’ve envisioned it. Mentoring and sharing is an important part of project building for me, so I absolutely don’t mind sharing some of my very strong or final ideas. I really have no concept of competitiveness or jealousy, in all honesty. I’ve never felt it, so it doesn’t bother me if a contemporary is doing everything that I love. I can only learn from that. And, of course, every artistic decision is a choice, so I go with what draws me to it, whether or not it is socially relevant and/or in the news.
14. While working on projects, do they typically run in parallel or do you focus on one project at a time?
I think I have a lot of small things running together in my head, and sometimes in my practice, too. The flipside of that is that many of them just don’t make it to the end, or even the beginning.
15. Who or what has inspired you to pursue photography and/or continues to do so?
When I began (back in ’04-’05), photojournalism was where I was. The outcome was very defined – a byline in a newspaper or a magazine. Since about 2012, everything has changed for me. The medium is now a part of my life, not my entire life. Yes, it is my bread and butter, but photography is now a window to everything and myself. And I don’t think of the medium as being a single, isolated practice. It coexists alongside other art forms, such as music, writing, painting, video etc. It is an experience driven by how much it lends to being immersive as a medium. The genre in photography is long dead, I think.
16. Is there a book, an exhibition or a body of work that has really impressed you, and maybe even influenced your work / life?
Several – although I can’t name one book or one exhibition – and parts within books or exhibitions. I don’t look at any work in isolation. But I loved William Eggleston’s portraits at the National Portrait Gallery in London, in 2016; Sian Davey’s Looking for Alice is a book I love. I was entirely charmed and disturbed by Sohrab Hura’s video, The Lost Head and the Bird, as I was drawn to the philosophy and writings by Umrao Singh Sher Gil in A Self-Study by Umrao Singh Sher-Gil. I’ve loved Andre Kertesz simple portraits of people in On Reading as well as Daido Moriyama’s complex pursuit of Shinjuku in his works. Everything influences my life, and photography is only a part of that. People close to me know that the biggest influence has been music, film, and books. Sorry, but photography has always come after those three.
17. Could you describe a time when you found yourself creatively ‘stuck?’ If yes, then how did you come around to dealing with it?
Oh, all the time! And that’s the beauty of it. Because if you delve deeper, you’ll know that you’re never really stuck. You’re always thinking and learning more about how to look beyond your own restrictive perceptions of art and life. So that’s how I look at situations.
18. When you put together a series of images, what is your process while you are creating the narrative of the story? Is it different when working on your own story from when you are working as a photo editor on a story by another photographer?
The intended outcome is what determines the nature of the edit, when I’m at work. Of course, a good photo is always a good photo. And I think I’m more passionate as a photo editor than I am as a photographer of my own ideas. I just love working with images and text. And over the years, I think I’ve learnt how to understand the pulse of other photographers’ works and that helps me edit because, when you’re editing, you need to be objective, unbiased, and completely devoted to what you’re seeing. When it comes to myself, there’s no one plan or narrative. But, yes, it comes with a lot of reading and observing, before I start shooting. And I always work with music. I always have headphones on when I’m editing.
19. Can you share a bit about some of your personal photographic work / projects? Does it guide / influence your photographic work at large?
I never published Sojourn anywhere, but it remains, to date, my most joyful and meaningful experience visually. I was always a wanderer on the streets, much like a true flâneur and Sojourn really let me wander and explore the city (London) like I had never before. I started shooting only after nearly two months of completely aimless walking. It was wonderful to be that way. I think it comes with a certain unlearning, as well. One has to train oneself to unlearn and experience afresh. That’s the hardest part you know, to be true to your senses. Sojourn was about finding all kinds of rhythm in a city while walking. It depended on sounds, music, buildings, people, and my own past and how they all came together to reveal the images I saw finally. I also debunked the theory of the decisive moment in my dissertation while making Sojourn, and that, for me, is a critical point in my understanding of the street and its ephemeral nature. I don’t have any particular ambitions for it, except to have it grow and change as I grow and age. I want to disprove my own ideas and perceptions through my work. That’s the aim, really.
20. You said that you use your mobile a lot to make images. What kind of images do you make? Are they random images or do you have a story that you are working on?
Yes, my mobile phone is my most accessible instrument, and I use it to make images the most. Sometimes I do short photo essays / stories; but again, I’m not focusing on where it should be published or if it should be published at all. It’s entirely for my own experience and viewing pleasure. Sometimes, I do share some of the more serious images on my Instagram account.
21. How do you measure success or that a body of work is going well?
It’s always good to run your work through close friends and contemporaries in the field. I don’t necessarily think that photographers are the best judges of photography. But, yes, I rely largely on my own sense of what works and what doesn’t.
22. How much effort do you put into getting your work shown? Is this important to you? Does showing your work feed your creative process or does it distract from it?
Actually, I’ve really stayed away from showing my work as much as possible. I was part of a group show three years ago and some single images here and there as part of some exhibitions. But I really don’t lend any importance to having my work shown or published. I haven’t been afraid of waiting to be convinced about why I need to choose a certain kind of medium to display my work. It’s been fourteen years of shooting professionally and I’m still in no hurry.
23. Do you feel that there are adequate opportunities and avenues to share / show your work in India?
No, I think there are more than enough avenues to display work here. India is bursting at the seams with photo festivals.
24. Do you think there is a universal language that photography uses? Are Indian photographers finding that they are judged by western criteria and standards?
There’s absolutely no universal language, as far as I believe. The West has always influenced photographers in India and that’s not always a bad thing, as long as the takeaway enhances one’s own process. However, plagiarism is a different ballgame altogether. There’s the whole world of grants and being nominated for fellowships and grants and I guess your work needs to look a certain way in order for the world to appreciate it.
25. With your years of experience, of the lessons you have learned, what is the one thing you wish someone had told you when you were starting out?
Well I saw it myself about five years into working, but I wish I knew how much cronyism played a part in deciding who makes it to the big, international league. It’s hardly about merit, really. It’s largely about who scratches whose back. But, again, I’m sure that’s the case in most artistic fields.
26. If you didn’t do photography, what is the next best thing you would like to be doing?
Probably write short stories or be a serious film critic. Friends tell me that I could be great at running home improvement / cleaning services as well. Ha ha!
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Photo © Paroma Mukherjee
20 November
