Indian Photographer Explores Life And Travel In All Its Shades Through His Lens

Indian Photographer Explores Life And Travel In All Its Shades Through His Lens
Vishal RS

Vishal RS, a lifestyle and documentary photographer from Aligarh has travelled far and wide in search for stories. From the art of brass lock making in Aligarh to sustainable handloom factories in Panipat, he has explored multifaceted themes through his photography. During his travels, he has met many interesting people, like the owner of a really unusual cafe in France, the first woman to legally adopt a child in India after Independence and of course, the man with a fascinating journey and a big heart, the story behind SODEWS (Society for the Development of Economically Weaker Section).

He has backpacked to the south of France on a shoestring budget. Living on the street, hitchhiking to islands and working in a barista to fund his artistic ventures has been a major part of his life. Such adventures have taught him a lot about the power of any medium of artistic expression and how when things are bad, it’s just our perspective that makes it worse. At the end of the day, we can either see life as better than it is, or worse than it is.

Vishal has shared his own take on life and photography in an interview with Homegrown. Take a look.

Most of your stories have a human element. How do you bring this about in your stories?

I’ve always felt distant from people. This is what made me curious about them. I wanted to know more about them, their stories, their ambitions, etc. As you might’ve noticed, my earlier works had no human element to them. This is because of my inherent inability to understand human beings. With this lack of knowledge came the urge to learn. I might sound like a meshuga scientist but I want to know other people to know myself better.

What are the traits that attract you in a human being? What are the elements of human character that you want to explore through your stories?

I’ve been fortunate enough to have been able to surround myself with incredible photographers and when I asked them the same question they’ve always included the literal elements. “It’s their face, the wrinkles, their hands, the calluses,” they said. But personally, I feel that it’s more about what they’ve been through or what they are going through, the non-verbal elements that make you want to step a little closer and look. The idea that there exists another dimension to us and our communication intrigued me. Of course, my work isn’t “there” yet, but I know where I need to be heading and what I need to capture.

There’s a lot of photography centered around travel on your Instagram page. Are you enticed by traveling? Does it reflect anything about you as a person?

Alain de Botton, in his book, The Art of Travel, speaks about a man who decided to set on a journey to the city of London after having read a volume of Dickens. “The book evoked visions of English life which he contemplated at length and grew increasingly keen to see.”, says Alain de Bottom in The Art of Travel.

Well, while he was waiting for his train at the station, he grew weary just envisaging the journey ahead. The struggle that accompanied a journey was too much for him. Funnily enough, the anticipation of struggle was exactly what allured me to the prospect of travelling. I wanted to struggle, to feel like my day was a productive one. If I have a series in mind, I try to pick a spot away from my town, just so that I can come up with ideas to fill up this blank page. Traveling to me isn’t all fun and leisure for me. Rather, it is more about what I can do while I am there, and finding what makes sense to me photographically. After all, photography is just a tool for observation and interaction.

On the other hand, you have also focused on human poverty and plight through your photos. How do you deal with poverty as an artist?

I wouldn’t say that I’ve focused on human poverty. I just like to capture individuals who I’ve had the opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with. It’s very unfortunate that when we speak of our country, in the community of photographers, all we see is poor, worn-out people. To me, anywhere I go, it’s people who smile when I look at them that makes me feel at home. And trust me, people like us don’t get to see that a lot.

What is your composition like?

My frames, if you look closely, seem to look like someone else’s. This medium of artistic expression is still new to me and even though I’ve been practising photography for 4 years now, I still can’t help but delve deeper into what my style is. My compositions are an inspiration from many photographers I admire. The struggle to find my style is tedious. So, I tend to focus more on who’s in front of me and why.

You have tried to capture the freedom of the human soul through your pictures. Is this what inspires you as a person as well?

I think freedom is subjective. For example, to me freedom is “silence”, to some it could be “wealth”, to some a “breakup”, etc. Every human soul desires freedom for sure amongst many other things. However, what truly inspires me is the journey undertaken to get there.

From where did you draw inspiration for composing you Malgudi days photo series?

Well, I was there on an assignment with my boss and she is a perennial traveller. She told me tales about the village of Agumbe and how she knew “Jennie Akka”(the woman in the picture). She spoke of her as an idol, a person she looked up to. Akka’s journey from being a single woman all her life to being the first woman to adopt a child legally right after our country won its independence was awe-inspiring. She wakes up at 5 am for a walk and tries to clean up the streets as much as she can along the way. That has become part of her routine. I thought it would be a great anecdote to share at the beginning of the year.

“It’s among the leaves, not the wires, that you really hear yourself.” This is how you have described one of your posts. If we look closely, there’s a strong element of quest in your photography. Can you tell us more about it?

It sounds a little pretentious, but it’s something I have to keep telling myself. We understand the concern behind technological advancement and as an avid user, out of necessity and habit, a reminder acts as an aid. Even though I own a DSLR which is capable of shooting 120 pictures in a minute, I love using my film camera. The Novar Anastigmat has no viewfinder; so I have no way to find out whether my subject is in focus or not. So it takes a while for me to just take one shot, and leaves no option for retakes. All I have is a limited number of frames and a limited amount of time. Also, not knowing what you’re going to receive as tangible photographs is agonizing, yet exciting.

Any techniques of photography you adhere to?

I don’t, or at least I try not to. I just try to capture a moment in time that I would probably never be able to see again. When I was starting out, I followed the rules constituted by the gods of photography. Eventually, I grew tired of the tried-and-tested rules and discovered pleasure in being spontaneous.

You can check out his Instagram here.

You can check out his Behance profile here.

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