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I was a photographer, even before I started to handle the camera, would you believe it? But I was not a born photographer. I had the desire to shoot pictures when I was a child; I just wanted to see myself in the photographs that I would take at the same time; Unfortunately, that is impossible at that time as there were no digital cameras with LCD displays that can be seen in the mirror while taking self-portraits. I would imagine how I would look through the viewfinder. I believe that I became an amateur photographer at that point of time itself.
Pictures taken with the Konica Minolta(It was a manual focus camera. Unfortunately, everyone including me clicked without focusing)
The first camera I ever handled was my uncle’s. I was five or six years old, then! It was a Konica Minolta. I don’t remember the model name. But it was red in colour, well-built and was completely made of metal wrapped with plastic. It was a premium compact camera with good optics. I remember that there was a slider switch at the side of the lens; i guess it is meant for aperture adjustment. When I pressed the shutter-release button for the first time, I heard the proper mechanical “clunk” sound rather than the more silent ‘click’ sound of the compact cameras of today. Instantly I fell in love with the sound and since then I was too obstinate to be obliged for a picture; I loved to take the picture myself rather than giving a toothy smile in the frame. Hence I was absent mostly absent in a lot of family albums. It is something like ‘Love at first sight’, the only difference being sound in place of sight. Strangely, I started loving a visual medium because of the sound it generated!
For some years, I did not get an opportunity to shoot with that camera, though I had a chance to explore a dysfunctional classic Rolleiflex large format camera from the attic. During my college days, I opted for photography as an elective paper, which helped me to know the history of photography and the basics of photography and camera. I had a quarrel with my brother to get his newly bought canon auto-rewind compact camera to shoot for my internal exams. Though I got it successfully, I lost marks as I dropped the film after taking it out of the cartridge inside the dark room. In total darkness, I was crawling, only to push my class-mate down. Mindful of what he was doing, one guy, who occasionally visited classrooms, took his newly-launched ‘torch-light mobile phone’- Nokia 1100 and lit it up to show me where the film was. Within a second, he busted my hopes of getting good pictures and marks. However, for the sake of completing it, I dipped it in the solution and made wrong time-count for developing it. I got one nice picture out of 36 shots; Others were full of white patches throughout.
The new era of digital photography in my life started when one of my friends bought a digital camera. I clicked very few pictures, but they were not technically good. However, I desired to buy a digital camera as I observed that one does not need to spend a single penny on the long run. Camera was the first thing to be bought after I started to work. I learnt the technical aspects of photography through different sources, starting from the user manual. Now, after clicking the shutter-release button for the 9670th time in exactly two years, I am willing to continue this journey through the light with a much more sophisticated camera, a digital SLR.
One of my friends, who does travel photography and writes in travel magazines, has a Nikon D80. I had the chance to shoot with it for sometime. It was a different kind of photographic equipment altogether. When I viewed through the viewfinder for the first time, it was difficult for me to see and shoot, since I am used to shoot using the large LCD screen in my camera. But in a few minutes I got used to it. Autofocus was blazing fast with a slow lens, a fast prime lens with silent wave motor will be mind-blowing. The shutter opened without lag with a mechanical 'clunk' sound and no other camera that I have handled comes close. I have also handled Nikon D200, canon EOS350D and 400D. Canon EOS350 was awful to use, since the copy I handled was malfunctioning and very improper, with fungi on the lens elements. Moreover, the ergonomics of the camera gave me wriist pain for a week. EOS400D was a lot better in ergonomics and image quality, but D80 was better; perhaps I am used to Nikon's controls and terminologies. D200 is D80's elder brother. I did not explore it much to comment on it.
Though my camera is a gem among compacts, it has a lot of limitations and I need better image quality, high ISO performance, dynamic range, depth of the field, speed, flexibility, customisation, controls and the mechanical ‘Clunk’ sound which made me fall in love with photography. I am not demanding a medium-format hasselblad, but longing to lay my hands on an APS-C size sensor camera, a Nikon D300 or atleast a D90 to take me through the light rays for the light-years of eternity.
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About the Author: Nivedan is an intern at National Centre for Advocacy Studies (NCAS), Pune. With self-nurtured knowledge of photography, he experiments with photography and other forms like posters so as to use them as tools for sensitization, advocacy and social transformation.
Contact Nivedan at nivedanmangalesh@yahoo.com
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