THE OBLIGATIONS OF A PHOTOJOURNALIST
Attempting to specify where photojournalism ends and art begins is a pretty pointless task. But in the case of Norfolk, I raise the issue because later in the Radio 4 interview, by explaining his approach to photography, Norfolk seemed to perfectly define the merit of photojournalism – as oppose to art – and the obligations that are incumbent upon all of us lucky enough to have been brought up in the Developed World but who work in much poorer countries.
PHOTOGRAPHING CORRUPTION IN INDIA
It is clear that acts of corruption including fraud and bribery are incredibly difficult to photograph but I did recently have the privilege of witnessing first hand, the work of those whose responsibility it is to confront corruption by holding public officials to account.
INDIAN PHOTOGRAPHY TODAY EXHIBITION
These photographs will be displayed at Brighton’s AM Gallery from tomorrow as part of an exhibition called Indian Photography Today. The show will feature a diverse range of work from several photographers under the broad banner of contemporary Indian photography.
THE SAD STORY OF DHANGA BAIGA
Dhanga’s is not an isolated case. Thirty-three percent of Indians are underweight with a BMI (Body Mass Index) below 18.5 which, Dr Binayak Sen says amounts to a “genocide without bullets”. Sen, a public-health activist and advisor to the JSS, currently resides in prison, serving a life sentence on false charges of sedition. Sen’s real crime has been to expose the Chhattisgarh state government’s appalling failure to represent the interests of those to whom it was elected to serve: ordinary people like Dhanga Baiga.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
Think of an Indian farmer and it is likely that you will conjure up the image of a man, dressed a dhoti – or perhaps wearing a turban – toiling in a field of wheat or rice. But as Neelam Prabhat of AROH pointed out to me last week, it is women who shoulder the burden of 70 to 80 percent of the agricultural work that takes place in India.
WHY INDIA’S COTTON FARMERS STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE
Sangam lost his mother several years ago when she committed suicide in a desperate bid to escape the misery of life with her alcoholic husband. I don’t know why Sangam’s now-estranged father turned to liquor but it is worth appreciating that the prevalence of alcoholism (and suicide) inevitably rises among populations immersed in the hopelessness of debt, contributing to individual ruin and the eventual undoing of communities. As a measure of the crisis in rural India, an average of 47 farmers a day committed suicide in 2009.
TEA, SAMOSAS AND TIGER RELOCATION
Rajasthan’s chief wildlife warden Ramesh Mehrotra took objection to a story that accompanied my photographs in National Geographic Adventure magazine. In his vexed letter, which seems only to have been published in the print edition of National Geographic Adventure, Mehrotra appeared slighted by writer Paul Kvinta’s critique of Rajasthan’s tiger relocation policy. Mehrotra apparently considered that the fine hospitality and pleasant company he offered us obliged Paul to write a glowing report on the tiger conservation effort. But how much worse it could be if the charms of official hospitality were ever to silence those who scrutinize policy and continue to argue that there are systemic problems with India’s tiger conservation strategy.
SCHOOLS IN INDIA
The quality of school education in India varies widely. From the Doon School in the foothills of the Himalayas which teaches the sons of India’s elite to the tens of thousands of dusty government schools that dot India’s rural plains, providing classes in rote-learning for the children of agricultural laborers. The photographs I have just featured in my gallery on south Indian students looks a school in Tamil Nadu that falls very much in the bottom half – though certainly not right at the bottom – of this scale.
MY NEW PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITE
A couple of months ago I received an email from the picture editor of an Indian magazine interested in reproducing photographs of mine she had seen posted on a Flickr site run by a Greek environmental campaign. These pictures of coal miners in eastern India had been pulled from my blog and were used without my permission but luckily they were credited (and watermarked) so the magazine picture editor was able to track me and my photographs down. This example illustrates the dilemma photographers face when using the web.
FOREIGN POLICY MAGAZINE FEATURES INDIA MINING STORY
Jason Mikian is a researcher with the Peace Research Institute in Oslo and, together with award-winning journalist Scott Carney, he has just published an article on Indian mining in Foreign Policy Magazine. Miklian and Carney’s story documents the shocking conditions forced upon local people in the name of progress and development in both Jharkhand and the neighbouring state of Chhattisgarh.The published article features a few of my photographs too.
TRANSGENDER PHOTOGRAPHS PUBLISHED
Defined by their sexual-orientation, Aravanis are rarely accepted by India’s largely conservative society. As a consequence, many are tormented by the disapproving gaze of others and suffer a lonely existence from which they seldom find solace. The transgender gathering I photographed in the Tamil town of Koovagam is one such occasion when Aravanis are able to emerge and take centre-stage – if only for a few short days a year.
MUMBAI INTERIOR PHOTOGRAPHY
The Guardian Weekend Magazine recently commissioned me to photograph Divya Thakur’s beautiful apartment, housed in a 100 year-old colonial building in Mumbai’s Colaba neighbourhood. Thakur runs Design Temple, a graphics firm she established ten years ago.
DELHI’S MONKEY PROBLEM
The only means to avert the menace of rhesus monkeys appears to be securing the services of a langur monkey. And this is precisely the solution employed by British High Commissioner. I don’t make a habit of visiting the High Commission but a few years ago I found myself relaxing on the ample lawn of the residence when I noticed a short man approaching me. Strolling alongside him was a monkey tied to a leash. As the man got closer, I realised that his companion was almost the same height as he was. This monkey was very different from the small rhesus variety that I had seen menacing my neighbourhood. Instead of the ubiquitous limp and incessant scratching that seem to be the curse of all rhesus monkeys, this creature walked with an elegant gait and wore a beautiful grey fur coat that appeared entirely fitting given the opulent surroundings.
ELA BHATT, SEWA AND THE RIGHTS OF INDIAN WORKERS
Ela Bhatt is founder of the Self Employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA), a union which represents the rights of over one million workers. She lives in the west Indian city of Ahmedebad and while I was there to photograph her last month she took me to meet some of SEWA’s members among the vegetable vendors of the city.
THE REALITY OF MINING IN INDIA
According to Sahay then, I should have come across a lot of enthusiasm and hope among this population who either directly or indirectly [depend] on the Bokaro Steel Plant for a living. But I didn’t. Instead I photographed a poor and dejected community, eking out a living on the fringes of a mine that employes few local residents. I saw women collecting coal as lumps of it toppled from the huge trucks exiting the mines. Close by, families living in grotty hovels, were selling plastic bottles of petrol to passing motor vehicles. This was trickle down economics at work, honouring those who’ve been forced to sacrifice their land in the name of growth.
SERENDIPITY AND PHOTOGRAPHY
What makes this kind of photography exciting for me is the notion that these moments happen all the time. As Elliot Erwitt, Webb’s colleague at Magnum Photos, says, “You can find pictures anywhere. It’s simply a matter of noticing things and organizing them.” Of course for the most part, these “pictures” pass the world by because no one was there to capture them.