"Do not be trigger happy," Swapan Mukherjee says. With a career spinning over 60 years and having dabbled in various genres of photography , 'Been There Done That' could well be his middle name. Here is an interview of Swapan Mukherjee.
It
is a way of life. To give your all to photography one has to lead a
solitary existence to ensure complete immersion in your objective. Of
course this does not happen when you are shooting hardcore advertising,
or commercial projects as more often then you have to compromise to meet
another person's criteria. This frustration has been gnawing at me for a
long time.
Providence came to my rescue, when due to
circumstances, which had nothing to do with me, I was overnight without a
studio! Looking back I realized that it could not have happened at a
better time as I was already feeling like a prisoner, held between the
four walls of a studio. I was drawn to photography to enable me to
record life around me. Working in the studio denied me this. I used to
feel as if the whole world was passing by me.
Like many
successful photographers abroad I decided to work from home, instead of
looking for another studio. It took me a while to adjust to the idea.
For the first few months while watering the plants in my little balcony
garden I would see my neighbours getting into their cars and rushing off
to work. I had nowhere to go. Felt like as if I was unemployed!
However, looking at the positive side I realized that not having to
commute I had gained more than three hours everyday, without the
frustration and aggravation of commuting. Besides, I did not have all
those high studio overheads anymore. So, I could pick and choose
assignments. I also had time to indulge in art photography.
When did you stumble upon the fact that photography is the thing meant for you?
Like
I mentioned earlier I have always been fascinated by life around me.
Returning from our morning walks to the nearby village as a kid I would
often paint the scenes which had moved me. However, painting was a slow
process and often I would forget the details like were there cows and a
dog in front of the women carrying loads of firewood, or just the dog.
It was about this time I stumbled upon a photography book by Kodak of
Rochester. It was indeed a revelation for me. I think it was my
fourteenth birthday when I became the proud owner of an Ensign Ful-Vue
box camera. Even today I am happiest photographing the 'slice of life'
kind of photography.
How was your experience in doing your first professional assignment?If
shooting model portfolios, and getting paid for them do not count then I
think it must be the hair style shoot I did for a PR agency which
handled the hair-care products of Elizabeth Schwarzkopf in UK. The
Director of the PR agency had seen some of my model pictures, and I
guess she liked them enough to book me for a full day shoot. It was not
much different than shooting the model portfolios, except that the
hair-styles and accessories had to be just right.
However, my
first still-life shoot was for a well known women's magazine. The Art
Director had called up the studio where I was working as an assistant
for an urgent shoot of a clay casserol dish but my boss, Peter Lloyd was
away. The Art Director said, "Swapan you do it"! Rushing to the nearby
Covent Garden market I went and bought enough fresh vegetables, which I
could think of would go into a casserrol recipe, I did the shot. Years
later when I had my own studio in London's Pimlico district the Art
Director would come to me quite often for shoots.
One thing about photography that keeps you going?Curiosity
and the urge to create. Photography also helps to reach out to fellow
human beings. Instant viewing in digital photography makes it that much
easier.
Tell us about any interesting experiences that you have had while shooting.Using
dry ice for shooting ice-creams was never heard of before we embarked
upon the Vadilal Ice-cream campaigns, which branded me as a food
photographer. From studying chemistry at Delhi University I was aware of
the benefits of dry ice, which is nothing but solidified carbon dioxide
gas, which does not have a liquid stage so no mopping up to do. Now
everybody, including ad-film makers, use it.
Another incident
happened while I was in Hong Kong. I saw this Chinese family from
Beijing being photographed by the street photographer, who had his Canon
DSLR and an Epson printer on a chair on the promenade. After taking
some pot shots of the photographer, I took some candid shots of the
family members. While showing the pictures to them the father was doing
his usual number of why did I not ask before shooting to which I had
explained that if I had done so the pictures would not have the
spontaneity. The funny thing was the daughters and the mother liked some
of the pictures so much that they wanted some prints! The street
photographer obliged with his Epson printer.
What equipment do you use nowadays?On
rare occassions when I shoot on film I use Pentax for 35mm, Bronica for
medium format and Toyo for 4 X 5. An odd ball in the choice of
equipment but I like to keep my life simple. For digital I use a Canon
EOS 40D, while the earlier 20D is for back up. As I do more of location
photography I have avoided going for digital backs as they are very
cumbersome to use and makes you sometime forget the real purpose of you
being there behind the camera!
Do you recommend or are you in support of digital retouching?To
enhance an image digital retouching is a boon but should not be used to
salvage shoddy workmanship and mistakes. Over retouching models' faces
on magazine covers which make the skin look more like POP is certainly
very poor workmanship.
This applies to commercial work but
photo-journalism is different, where the objective is to record truth,
so enhancing images have to be judiciously executed. Altering contrast,
brightness and over all colour cast is fine but actual content of the
images should be left untouched. However, personal and art photography
allow to let loose your imagination with digital manipulation.
Has your work been featured in exhibitions and what is your take on art and fine art photography?When
I was living in London I used to be a regular exhibitor. However, my
most memorable one was my first one man show, called, "Some Moments
Preserved", which was an exhibition of my black & white street
photography of London in the late 60s and 70s. Four of my colour images
depicting the English way of life of the same period were awarded a
bronze medal each for the symposium, "The World and its People",
organized by Kodak of Rochester, and was held at the World Trade Centre.
Some of these black and white prints, which I had printed for
exhibitions, will be included at the auction being conducted by
Bloomsberry Auctions in November. Some of my art photography are
currently featured in the Saatchi Gallery, U.K., which is online. I have
also exhibited in the various Exhibit-As, organized by the Advertising
and Industrial Photographers' Association and later the Photographers'
Guild of India, and a group show of some of the Powai photographers in
Mumbai.
I
do dream of a day when I can make a decent living out of my art
photography. I think the reason I had taken up photography so many years
ago was simply to feed my creative urges. Unfortunately, in India you
cannot live on art photography alone as it has yet to catch on like in
the West. Some of those few photographers in India who are into art
photography are very promising but most are either copying some
established artists of bygone eras, or are lost in convoluted ideas and
motives. The maxim, "Less is more" certainly holds true in art
photography. It is foolhardy to try to make photographs look like
paintings.
Any advice for budding photographers?Be
true to yourself, have faith in your ability and persevere. You will get
there one day. Look around and observe. Keep your imagination alive and
shoot whenever you can.
Reference:- Asian Photography
Senol Zorlu. 
