Turning street smart

Photography is said to be the story we fail to put in words. And a small group of photographers in the city has taken it upon themselves to weave those stories. So they pick up their cameras every weekend and head out to explore different areas of the city. This club doesn’t have a name but they have established an identity for themselves through their works of art.

The first step was taken by  Guru Charan when he wanted to interact with other photographers in the city. He says, “It’s been about two years that the six of us have been meeting regularly. When I moved to a new house which was further away from the city, I realised that I needed to find a way to meet like-minded people. It was the same case for the others in the group as well. So we decided to make a pact and learn more about photography.”

Street photography being their main genre, they often venture into the streets of K R Market, Shivajinagar, Majestic and a few villages close to the city. They also make it a point to explore the culture and lifestyle there.

Karthik Kumar S has been a part of this group since its inception. He says, “We start discussing the place we want to visit by Thursday. Since all of us live in different parts of the city, we will all have something to contribute. We then finalise on the place and head out during the weekend.”

It was during one such visit that they met a girl named Anima in K R Market. Guru says, “Every time we went there, we would meet Anima. But after a few visits, we realised that she had been wearing the same clothes, just more dirtier than the last time. So we started an online campaign to collect money for her. We collected Rs 10,000 and gave it to her family. We still see her whenever we go back and she always greets us with a smile.” 

“That’s one of the best things about this group. We are all passionate about photography but we want to interact with the people as well. We make sure that we learn about their culture and lifestyle. We eventually build a bond with them. I am not only learning more about the angle and composition of a picture but also how to connect with strangers,” shares a member, Sathish Lanka.

As the members are self-taught photographers, they often help each other in learning the art. Satish Singh says, “When I started taking pictures, I would look at a picture from one point of view. But after I met these guys, I started taking inputs from them and also understood their perspective. I have been shooting much better pictures and my work has improved tremendously because of their constant feedback.” 

Anoop Nharakkottuthodi agrees with the same. He says, “Apart from learning new tricks, we also get to explore new places. I’ve been living here for a while but I could explore so many interesting places here only now, thanks to the group.” Mentioning another unique factor about the club, Sreejit Babu says laughingly,  “We are all Nikon users. It is probably a weird coincidence but since we all use the same company, whenever we are travelling, we can easily share the lenses between us.”

So will this interesting group of street photographers ever name their club? “There have been discussions to have one but we’ve decided not to. We don’t want to brand our passion and move away from the purpose of why we started at all. We just want to make the most of our time, learn about photography, tell stories through our pictures and and keep exploring,” confirms Guru.