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Raghu Rai: The world through the lens

26 December 2004, 18:00 PM
LIFESTYLE
By Fayza Haq
26 December 2004, 18:00 PM
Raghu Rai is a Padmasri award winner for his photographs on the Liberation War
Raghu Rai, a veteran photographer, whose pictures on Bhopal have won the admiration of many in Dhaka during the Chobi Mela III, said that he had been to Bangladesh during the Liberation War. He was recently speaking at a press conference at Drik.At that time, he said, when he told people that he was from Punjab, they were often mad at him, such was the tense situation. Today they welcome him as a friend, despite his Punjabi ancestry. He regretted that though there are many photographers in India, and some workshops too, there has been no "chobi mela" there, as in Bangladesh. He said that it had not been all that easy for him to get recognition although he got the Padmasri from the Indian government for his photos of the Liberation War in Bangladesh. He stressed on the difference between a painting and photography and said that a photographer always captured time.

Rai spoke of how he didn't want to be an engineer but how his father forced him into it. During this time, he stayed with his elder brother, a photographer. Once he chased a baby donkey and took its picture. This got published in the London Times and gave his first big exposure. In 1966 he took up a job with Hindustan Times. A cartoonist asked him to start an evening daily with him. This lasted only 40 days but gave him a taste of work of newspapers. He said that he was very contented with his photography and does not wish for anything else. However, he said he would like to travel more, and that in his next life he would like to be a musician.

Rai said that a photo, whether a documentary or otherwise should capture a moment with its own truth and freshness so that the picture comes alive. Everything has some energy and a picture should capture this. A photograph should be meaningful to anyone, he said. Photographers, according to him, should be sensitive observers.

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Speaking about his Bhopal experience he said that it was done with association with Greenpeace, and that when this exhibition had been taken to USA, it won great admiration there. Asked why he went in for black and white for his Bhopal pictures and that of Mother Teresa he said that they were serious subjects and demanded a black and white treatment.

Rai said that recently he had met a guru who told him to stop chasing assignments, which he has now been doing for decades, and be involved in doing some creative work of his own. For years now he has been trying to make editors come out to the field and see things as he sees them. So far he has made 18 albums.

Rai said that he saw a lot of promise in Bangladeshi photographers, and that they were not just "happy, snappy guys".