Photography has been my passion for ever since I became conscious of my surroundings.... and that happened only in my early twenties .Candid photography was / is my favorite and my specialty lies in humorous photography. There was a time when I would walk on the streets with my index finger on the shutter just like an alert armed force personnel. Nothing interesting could transpire in front of me without being captured, be it political, sports or even a painting exhibition. By the way all these beauties never saw the light of the day. It never got reflected in the papers. 90% of my best photos remained unpublished till date. I earned the nickname “unpublished photographer” after I posted my Fb album consisting of all the unpublished clicks. The funny part is, I have won only two awards (first prize) and both came from among those unpublished lot.
I used to be ready for all sorts of assignments but the weather assignment was the cherry on the cake ( no one wants it). I always remained clueless as to what to shoot on a everyday basis. Once a senior photographer and a good friend of mine asked me to shoot weather photos, since he was not the boss I had the liberty to question him back. Since it was neither windy nor rainy and not even hot, I asked him what to look for? “Today is a very sticky weather ...so go get it” he replied in his typical manner, and there I was feeling numb.
The rain photos were the most irritating ones of them all. A drop of rain would cast a spell all photographers dreaded. We all were given instructions to shoot the rain and like the backbenchers I used to hide myself from these utterly creative assignments. However I never succeeded to dodge these ever. Wet clothes, foggy specs with water dripping from the equipment was not bad enough that it ended with a baseless lecture from the boss who rejected every shot sipping a cup of hot cappuccino in his water proof ac chamber.
I detested these assignments. The best part of the rainy season was that we photographers had the liberty to walk into the office in slippers and half pants while others would be having a hard time to keep their formals dry. I always pondered that during the heavy rains when most of the people headed towards a shelter be it office and home to escape and even enjoy it, we photographers took the other path and embraced it.
Let me share about my life in Mumbai as a photographer. One cannot really separate the season monsoon from Mumbai. Can we think of this city without rain ,train & pain ? A combination of the rain & my journeys on train resulted in a lot of pain.( my back hurts as I pen it down) How can you ever work in Mumbai avoiding the rains? In Mumbai my office used to ask for standalone photos everyday and that was like a compulsory assignment. It was thus quite natural that there was no guarantee of the shot getting published. When something is declared compulsory, it sure looses its charm. Every morning I used to wake up and motivate myself for doing something better. I knew that I was losing the interest of clicking the street moments that I once loved.
In Mumbai, during the monsoon besides the rain, high tides are something to look out for. I find it the most interesting thing in that over hyped Maximum city. Its a fabulous & a spectacular sight. One should go and check that out for certain. The best points for it are: Worli, Marine Drive and Gateway of India .(obviously according to me.)
This was new to me and I started shooting high tides. Unless you go inside those waves crushing on the promenade you can’t feel it. But I always remained alert as those waves are so strong that it breaks the decorative tiles too, may be the contractor’s favorite . One day with proper cover I tried to shoot those maddening waves crushing on me. Got some nice photos but ended up with a conked-off camera . That was a bad idea. Then I ordered an all weather Nikon coolpix camera just to shoot the Mumbai rain and those devastatingly high tides. With this camera I felt like an astronaut in a space suite. I would leave all my equipments in the office but this small one and went out for the kill. I enjoyed the waves which took away my fear, inhibition and uneasiness towards the rain. Children seek fun in this, and the parents too are not far behind. On Sundays these places are like tourist spots. Got some really nice photos for my Fb album. If you see these photos you can feel the force of it, the fun of it and obviously the beauty of it. At the Gateway of India, you can find people floating on the roads once the tide hits the shore. It could be a very dangerous act too. The police have a pretty hard time to keep the bystanders away. At the Marine Drive its a bit throwback time for the ocean. During the high tide all the trash that we threw into the ocean through out the year comes to the shore. It throws back the trash with every wave that hits the boulders. Its a spectacular sight if you are looking at it from the Marine Line flyover. Things go very bad at the Bandra lands end area which is very close to the King Khan’s Mannat villa. I don’t know why people make shanties by the shore just to have a real bad time during the monsoon with these high tides. For the next couple of years I was in that city and shot monsoon from hip dip water with a smiling face and enjoyed them truly. Frankly speaking no other options were left. Even that all weather Nikon coolpix camera, failed badly with time. Its lens would get foggy after a couple of shots in the rain. After repeated complains their experts gave an excuse that never fits their product though , “Sea side is very humid, so its very normal” they replied and asked to refer to the manual as well. Why the hell the product name has “AW” (all weather) in it then?
My last blog post on Mumbai was a negative one. Someone requested me to write something positive about the city. The city which remains under water for most of the days during monsoon, where a dozen building collapses killing hundreds (mostly during monsoon) and fire casualties are even more normal. Yes, this city taught me how to deal with rain and train without the pain. It made me a stronger person or may be had filled the lego which was missing in me. After Mumbai, I hardly got any chance to shoot the rain again but learnt to enjoy it with a cup of tea from the balcony like others. Something I always missed doing but never wanted it at the cost of my dream.
Photos and Text : ARIJIT SEN
Edited by : RAJASHREE SEN