The Critic

    What is PHOTOGRAPHY? Who is a PHOTOGRAPHER?

    Photography is an art just like painting, sculpturing, etc, and this is an art in which one captures moments, sights, etc, forever in the form of a Picture. Pictures can be used for so many things like to remember moments which are very dear to us, to keep a record(archive) of something and finally to show one's passion for clicking photographs.

   A photographer can click pictures of any possible thing which catches his/her attention, may it be very small things like a pencil, a paper pin, even a grain and it may also be very big things like a building, a telephone tower, etc. It is not the content in a picture that matters but it is the way in which the picture has been composed and in order to get a well composed picture you need to give away enough time just for clicking pictures, no one becomes a photographer over the night just because he/she gets a new camera. It requires practice because Photography is also an Art. But the secret in becoming a good photographer lies within yourself, it is your vision which leads you to becoming a good photographer. 


    A Photographer is someone who has all the above qualities. He/she goes on photo walks, gives suggestions and corrects mistakes of other people, clicks pictures of birds, leaves, etc, uploads some pictures in an album by the name RANDOM because they fill that album with pictures of here and there random things, also clicks pictures of culture around them, the environment in which they live and the most important thing, they finally sit and edit pictures. These are the things which a photographer normally does in his/her life.

    Now this is what photography is and who a photographer is according to me. But some people out there who are not into photography at all and who do not even know a bit about photography, they just sit very comfortably on their chairs and write total rubbish about photographers and their style of working.

    A beggar who was once completely ignored by the people passing by has now become the prime focus of a photographer. People click pictures of the most outrageous or the completely ignored things around them once they get a camera in their hands. They think it is very stupid to click pictures of an old bike or a very old ceiling fan or even a very old floor mat and then categorizing them in an album by the name THE CLASSICS. They raise questions on the names of albums and say how stupid it is to use names like THE CLASSICS, BIRDS, RANDOM, etc, and they also say that photographers put pictures into different albums with completely senseless names.

    Photographers click pictures, go home, do some editing work and finally they put their logos on it and then they tell the whole world that this picture belongs to me and you will be penalized if you use my pictures without my permission. Of course those pictures belong to that photographer and he/she will protest against anyone who uses their pictures without their permission.

    People just sit and talk rubbish about anything possible and they will talk the most about those things of which they have the least knowledge. Its like saying, a doctor judging the work of an architect. As a photographer, I would certainly be offended by anyone talking like this about any photographer and his/her work. So before you say something about a photographer, step into their shoes because only then you can criticize them truly. And talking about how they work, lets just leave it up to them. Everyone has their own style.

An Entire Day With Nature

    We live in a very fascinating world filled with very beautiful creatures. We are always surrounded by different creatures, big or small or even microscopic, and to be frank majority of these pass off totally unnoticed. Human beings are the most busy creatures on Earth and they are always looking to advance in every possible aspects of life because of which we start ignoring every possible damn thing on Earth which may not have any sort of connection to what we want. In simple words, we have become very greedy and because of this greed the entire Earth is in a chaotic situation. We are very ignorant and our ignorance is very clearly visible to all of us.

    One day a man decided to get rid of all his worries in life, his responsibilities and every other thing in his head which had made him ignorant and greedy in life, just for one day. He decided to go a valley with a few of his friends, actually it was a school located in the valley. They had cameras with them too.

    Lets go a few steps ahead into the trip to that valley. The four friends had entered the valley/school and it was very beautiful at the first sight itself. Small buildings covered by a canopy of trees and the pathway filled with dry leaves and flowers fallen from the trees above, it was just very beautiful and a sight which had to be captured forever.

    That day was really long, walking deep into the valley was a little scary as well but the things witnessed by the four friends were very beautiful and somethings which should never be forgotten. Many beautiful pictures were clicked of very interesting and creepy things, but the thing which caught the attention of this man with his camera the most was a 'Dung Beetle'.

    Dung beetles are those beetles which either partly or exclusively feed on feces. In simple words, these are the beetles which feed on dung as the name tells us.

    This man had always seen Dung Beetles on television and he always found it highly fascinating for some reason. The picture on the right is of a Dung Beetle which he had captured at the valley/school. This picture turned out to be the best among all which he had clicked because this picture shows the daily life of a Dung Beetle. What does this beetle do? Well, the picture speaks for itself, but of course the dung is completely covered by sand.

   Nature has some of the most beautiful things in the world but at the same time it has some of the funniest things as well. As this picture was being clicked, the beetle actually did a whole split which was in fact very funny. But that's the beauty of nature, sometimes you get to see things for once which can never be seen in nature again.

    So as the journey in the valley continued, our man was completely relieved in his mind from all his tensions, his greed and every other thing in his mind. That day he was out there witnessing the nature.

    This was a trip to the Valley School which is located in Kanakpura in the southern region of Bangalore, India.

Captured at the Valley School