Sabhanaz Rashid Diya & Zabir Hasan
Once upon a time, a great man by the name Ansel Adams sat in his own world and said to himself, “You don’t take a photograph, you make it!” Quite unsurprisingly, his personal pondering became a universal truth in the world of images. Photography has surpassed the point from just being clicked into an illustrative art form experienced across seven continents.
The excitement however did not generate before the advent of digital cameras. In 1975, the Eastman Kodak Company assigned its engineers to build an electronic camera. The company’s electrical engineer, Steve Sasson responded to this by creating the world’s first digital camera prototype. Nevertheless, the digital camera did not develop on to the consumer market for nearly 15 years after Sasson’s original creation. Many companies slowly began to work on ideas, but it wasn’t until Fuji released its DS-1P in 1988 that the digital camera market really began to take off. The camera was the first of its kind to digitally store images.
Today, digital cameras have taken a great leap and are common additions to every household. The simplicity, easy of availability and portability of the device with its added features and latest releases has made it a favourite to many. Whether it’s a friend’s reunion party or your favourite toddler’s birthday bash, or perhaps a moment of life you’d like to preserve, clicking pictures has never been easier. Photography has gained popularity as a profession with dedicated schools and majors being offered in almost every major city in the world.
Yet, in spite of its rapid acceptance, photography is far from being understood beyond its capacity of clicking and storing images. It is yet to be acknowledged as the most powerful art form of our time and an irreplaceable medium when it comes to recording our present (and past) for our future. Nonetheless, it is also true that the craft has gone ahead from a time when professionals were considered as the only experts and hobbyists as mere mimics. Today’s world embraces amateur photographers with just enough respect. Opportunities, competitions and grants are often awarded solely to amateurs to encourage them into the field with a stronger drive and passion, and more importantly, to create scope for further work. After all, not everyone can afford or accommodate a well-rounded photography course!
Yours truly has been involved with amateur photography and its relevant communities for a while, and in quintessence, it has been an unforgettable experience. Watching images grow into real life stories and witnessing first-hand its impact on people are processes that cannot be phrased into perfect words. Amateur photography has never been as exciting as now!
A simple website that has played an insurmountable effort in promoting amateur photography amongst the hot tub of professionals is Flickr (www.flickr.com). Easily accessible with a Yahoo! Account, this user-developed platform has grown miraculously over the past couple of years. It has connected photographers from across the globe with individual photo streams, focused groups and pages, a constantly updated blog and most importantly, well structured critiques and tips from Flickr-buddies on better photography. If you’re thinking how to showcase your small achievements behind the lens, Flickr is a top recommendation!
Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a more guided approach to the trade but cannot be admitted to a curriculum course or institution, the Internet presents itself an array of photography websites. A top choice would be Digital Photography School (DPS) run by Darren Rowse (www.digital-photography-school.com). In short, this dude is a genius! The site accommodates everything from daily photography tips to ideas from experts to user forums and problem-focused articles. What’s even better is that DPS runs a free subscription to a weekend newsletter delivered to your inbox with the latest news from the world images and gears, plus an up-to-date on the coolest techniques and tutorials and a weekend ‘assignment’ to challenge your skills.
When you’ve nurtured yourself into the basics, hop into any of the more advanced digital photography learning sites on the Internet. Photo.net, Better Photo (www.betterphoto.com) and Photography.com are some examples. Each of these has a collection of articles and tips on how to master the advanced skills in photography along with post-production insights. What’s more important is that the sites have a well-maintained collection of images from amateurs like you from ‘round the globe; and it’s learning from pictures themselves that presents itself as the best way to learn about pictures and picture taking altogether. Yours truly personally picks JPG Magazine (www.jpgmag.com) and Magnum Photos (www.magnumphotos.com) as top-notch let’s-view-images-to-learn-photography resources. Carefully selected by experts and monitored by administrators, both the aforementioned websites incorporates photographs from both professionals and amateurs, and it’s sheer wonder how one can be so extravagantly creative with the most minimal of equipments. While Magnum Photos is a hub for photojournalists and documentary photography, JPG Magazine is all-rounded arena for anything that’s jaw-dropping ‘photographic’!
Technology is allowing us to see the world through our lenses and freeze moments in the form of RAW or JPEG. But wait a moment; it’s doesn’t end with capturing photographs. Worldwide competitions are being arranged for amateurs to compete against one other for a lucrative prize. Most are web-based and surprisingly, not much of latest news. In fact, only until a few years ago, such competitions existed and were solely open to professional photographers. Now, they have opened up sections dedicated to amateurs only. An illustrative example would be the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards. This annual competition has two sections, one targeted towards professionals while the other for amateur photographers. They each have separate categories, requirements and judging criterions, thus making the process inevitably fair. You can easily Google an international online photography competition, and find yourself winning lucrative awards!
Ponderings remain. How can you differentiate between an amateur and a professional photographer? You might say people involved professionally in photography and earns a livelihood by taking, selling or being involved in solely photography are the true professionals. That was indeed the scenario even a few years back. With the moving world, photography and photographers have evolved as well. This new world is full of opportunities and the lines between a professional and an amateur are fast disappearing. Camera equipment moguls, Nikon and Canon have backed every photographer’s simplest dreams with a perfectly compatible camera coupled with the right accessories. However, it is easy to be misled by the statement. Gears cannot create images for you, they comes from your own inner sense of composition and your drive towards excellence. The creativity is yours, the technology theirs.
The scenario has also changed in our country. Earlier, photography was considered unthinkable, lavish or maddening. Yet, only recently has it begun to receive widespread acceptance. Fact remains only a small multitude are interested, but it’s an optimistic beginning. Institutions such as Pathshala (with Drik) and Alliance Francaise de Dacca have adequate courses on photography. Moreover, many local universities and clubs have dedicated photography units for its students and members. These often offer daylong or monthly workshops on various photography techniques facilitated by experts. Nowadays, many amateur photographers in Bangladesh are involved with wedding photography or event coverage earning a hefty sum to live the day. Young students with a passion for photography are particularly working as part timers to cover different occasions such weddings, birthdays or reunions. Some are receiving grants and projects to further work on humanitarian issues through images. In tandem, multinationals and corporate goons have begun to accommodate contributory photographers in their league.
Photography has, in fact, evolved greatly over the years. Although opportunities open up with each day, it cannot be denied that in Bangladesh, it is still quite limited. Not everyone understands the power of still images and to an extent; it is still an underrated art form. Local photographers have yet to scoop proper respect within their local context. However, times are changing and so are people’s attitudes. With more local exhibitions, workshops, competitions, festivals and opportunities on photography; we can be optimistic about its future and be almost astonished about its tremendous impact of human evolution and civilization.