Paint through your camera
Some express through painting, some through writing pieces and some do it by clicking pictures; try photography as an outlet for your artistic abilities

By Shubhdarshani Mitra
Someone rightly said, ‘you don’t take a photograph, you make it.’ Photography by definition is “the art or process of producing images of objects on photosensitive surfaces”. But it is more than just producing an image. It is about creating a picture out of the mechanical object that you have. While the basic of photography requires a camera, photography is not just about clicking pictures. It is a medium to express yourself and your artistic urges.

“I tried my hand at photography because I wanted to express myself creatively. That can be in various forms. It can be done through writing or somebody might do it by painting. For me it was the visual media,” says Priyanka who extensively and passionately practices photography as a hobby.

If you are passionate about photography and enjoy it as a hobby you have various options. You can go for travel photography or holiday photography, which is a very general kind of photography wherein you travel to places, click good pictures and come back. You can also opt for wildlife photography, which could be going to a zoo and clicking photos of animals. Different kinds of photography have different requirements. If you want to do holiday photography, you need a very compact camera like the handy digital cameras, which are easily available these days. If you want to do it a little more seriously and a bit more professionally, then you need SLR cameras, which have inter-changeable lenses where you can use different lenses for different pictures. With SLR cameras, the range widens due to added features. It provides more scope for experimentation.

While you can practice it by yourself, taking classes helps in building the foundation.

“If you are learning photography, then you will know what to include in a picture and what not to. How would a picture look nice and all those nitty-gritties”, adds Priyanka.
The schools not only teach you the basics of photography but also give practical classes on composition and style.

There are various branches of photography some of which are travel, wildlife, table top, still photography and all these branches require different kind of equipment and eye. If you are clicking an animal, you’ll require different kind of lens than when you are clicking a fort or a person.

Though conventionally an expensive hobby, practicing photography these days is not as expensive, thanks to the digital cameras that come for affordable prices. Earlier film cameras were used which were heavy on the pocket. Moreover, developing and printing was also time consuming. With digital cameras, you just need to click good pictures and download them on your computer system.

And if you really think it is the best thing you can do or will be able to do over a period of time, you can make it your profession. While art in the form of paintings is coming up because now people are considering it as an investment, the next in thing is going to be photography. People have started investing in photographs as well. Earlier photography was used for archival purposes and for documentation but now people are doing good and diverse kind of work. There is a new branch now called fine arts photography. People are creating pictures which are literally a piece of art and totally abstract like art. A lot of experimentation is going on.

So, if you are still thinking and wondering whether you have the artistic sense to go ahead, it’s time to realise that this is a form of art, which you can develop through observation and master over a period of time. All of us have aesthetic sense. It’s just that some develop it and others don’t. And moreover it is said that, “there are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”
So, all it requires is your own personal effort.