Photography and the latest initiative.

Search for like-minded people,  peer learning,  the decline of APUPI.
The search for like minded people is still on. It ..is like a never ending thirst. I’ve always tried connecting to like minded people, especially those interested in photography.
I must admit, almost all my knowledge in photography basics is by peer learning and Google. Mainly Pratik Shivagunde, Sayon Saha and Prashant Awasthi helped the most, not disregarding anyone else who did.
I wanted to take this forward to an entirely peer-learning group sessions. This led to the formation of “APUPI” last year, and the initial response was good. But with time, people started having better priorities and slowly the group is fading away.

We at TCS also follow peer-learning, not a forced one, but this is what we end up doing for the betterment of the project. We learn something and we do a KT – Knowledge Transfer. Pre-requisite to this is – the person at the receiving end should be humble to accept the knowledge and should be open to discussion. In our project we do presentation with slide shows, here we can have meetups in person and discuss stuff with hands on experience.

Interactions , Doubt clearing sessions and the offline mode of work.
This year, a lot of young guys asked me questions regarding photography basics, I could not answer them all. But I tried my best to do so, in-between office and other work. But the interactions made way to newer ideas and greater bonding.
With so many people still fiddling with the basics of photography, and not willing to pay the four digit sum for a workshop for the same, I decided to take an initiative. This time, an offline one.
Did the first workshop ( I prefer to call it “Doubt clearing meetup” ) at St Pauls’ Mission School, and the second one in Bangur Avenue. I am no star and the people who attended are friends or friend of friends. I did not publicise much except for an update at my photography page. It was attended by 4, and 11 members respectively. I am working on the feedback received. Slowly the discussions demanded hands on experiments, with most of them interested in Bokeh and slow-shutter, I had no point refusing them.
The first photo-walk was “invite only”, attended by 7 people, extremely new comers and two of them – using digicams. But I found their ideas to be fresh, they just need to interact and talk more 😛

Photo-walks and some social media “No Promotional” approach.
Tomorrow is the second photo-walk. That too is “invite only” and subsequently every photo-walks shall be “invite only”. I have gradually shifted to this “No Promotional” approach.
I feel, each of the promotional I do for my work hits the good-will I have generated. I feel so, its below dignity. I despise people who shoot one photograph, tag 40 people in it and keep sharing the same stuff in multiple groups. That looks like spamming in my notification areas. And since I do not like it, why should I do it myself ?
People I require feedback from, I message them personally with the link. I believe, if my work is good, it is bound to get noticed.

New approach in my photography page
These days, I photograph very less, and my instincts have given way to the creative stubbornness almost all the IT workers have! So, whatever I photograph, I put it up on my page, and share it on my profile. I do not tag people. I share my work ( not the link ) in few groups like “Tanvir Reza Photocritique”, and I generate some awesome ideas there. I stay in touch with few experienced photographers and this time, my knowledge making is theoretical in nature.  Not that I like it to be all theory based, but I feel helpless. I need to attend to the office also, and some good collaboration shall help. Yes, ! of all the other things, I have taken to the Google+ communities related to photography. That also is an awesome place to generate ideas.

You need to trust me. The last time I mass-tagged in any photograph was diwali 2011 and that was 15 people. After that, I did not tag people. The “like”s on my profile or the activity did not take a suffering. From 1540+ likes at Diwali end in 2011, its 2544 as of now. I was amazed at the fact myself, that more than a 1000 likes without promotion, without much photographs posted.. and yes, I believe I have generated some good will and credibility as well.

Showcasing few photographs from the offline interactive group. 
Photograph by: Akshay Deep
Photograph by: Aishwarya Das
Photograph by: Atish Dutta & Akshay Deep
Photograph by: Anirban Saha
Photograph by: Anirban Saha
Photograph by: Suvo Bhattacharya
Photograph by: Aishwarya Das
Photograph by: Akshay Deep
Photograph by: Atish Dutta
Demonstrating Bokeh on December 2, 2012 at Bangur Avenue.
Some fun moment demonstrating Light trailing.
Some fun moment demonstrating slow shutter, this is shot by Sayan ( CBS, class 9 ) Rudra guinin ( DPS, class 11 ).

End note :
Even this might fade out giving way to newer something, but as long as I am doing it, this gets my 100% and I am loving it. A special thanks to Rimbik Das, Surya Shekhar Chakraborty, the authorities of St Paul’s Mission School, Akshay Deep ( your participation was a huge mental boost ) , Sayon Saha.

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