Taking a shot at photography

Harvinder Khetal

As I sit to write on August 19 which is World Photography Day, I focus on photos, pictures and portraits. I zoom in on the subject so soon since I am still struck with awe by a photograph of The Tribune editorial staffers taken around 25 years ago that some colleagues recently shared on the social media. The group, say-cheese snap, shot in black and white, took me back to the time when I was taking baby steps in the field of journalism. Memories of old colleagues, some no more now, some looking unrecognisably young, flashed forth from an aperture in my mind. While a few recollections were as vibrant as a colour picture in close-up, others were grainy and needed scanning and prodding of the grey cells to develop, just like dusting a web from an old, other-era house. 

Today, in the era of selfies of velfies and instant pics, it seems almost incredulous that just about a decade back in the pre-digital period, photography was a phenomenon reserved for that rare special occasion. It was a specialised, costly and time-consuming affair. Consider this: While there is only one photo of my dad as a 2-year-old in 1941 — a sepia-tinted priceless piece safely ensconced in a glass-covered wooden frame adorning a wall — there are countless ones captured of my 8-year-old niece, all lying around casually or clogging digital cameras.

These days, just about any time is a trigger for the camera trigger-happy boys and girls pouting around all over the place. Some positively seem to be living the moment for the lens rather than just living and savouring the moment; it's more important to Instagram, WhatsApp or tweet life than to live it. 

Even as we take the ever-evolving technology for granted, let me take a shot at some photography vocabulary in black and white. Sir John Herschel, a scientist and astronomer, coined the word photography in 1839. It has been adapted from the German photographie, which has roots in Greek phos, phot- meaning 'light' and graphos meaning 'drawing, writing', together meaning 'drawing with light'. 

It reminds me of the physics class on pinhole camera in high school, complete with the line-drawing depicting the inverted image of an object on the opposite side. Interestingly, the pinhole camera, dating to the 4th century BC, is the source of photography. It led to the technique where in a camera obscura (dark chamber or darkroom), an image on a screen was projected through a small aperture (hole) in that screen as a reversed and inverted image on the opposite surface in 1604. The darkroom of yore in our newspaper office was the most intriguing one for any visitor, as also in the photography shops where negatives were developed as positives and films were printed. 

The thought that today Kodak and many a photography studio that could not keep pace with the times are in the doldrums saddens me. Even till the 90s, Kodak was synonymous with photographic films. It was so ubiquitous that its tagline "Kodak Moment" was the common lexicon to describe a personal event that was demanded to be recorded for posterity.

Incidentally, the word film derives from the Old English filmen (‘skin’ or ‘membrane’). Later, film had connotations with thin layers. In photography, the word relates to the thin coatings of emulsions applied to plates.

Well, well! It seems that not only pictures, even words have stories to tell.

But, as Bruno Barbey said, photography is the only language that can be understood anywhere in the world. In this context, one picture this week stood out for its powerful impact and truly justified the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. No surprise that it broke the record for the most-liked tweet ever. It is that of Barack Obama’s response to last week’s violence in Charlottesville, USA. The former President tweeted a quote from Nelson Mandela’s 1994 autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom”, along with his picture smiling up at a diverse group of young children. The quote read:

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion....”

The record number of likes to this message of equality and humanity is a reflection of the reality of the people of the world. It positively negates the bigotry that is sought to be projected and glossed by our demagogic leaders.   

The other photo that touched many hearts on Facebook for its subtle message is the photo of Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg's little daughter Max trying to open a door as the family bog, Beast, stands next to her. Equally heartwarming is the sentiment in the message paired with the picture. Zuckerberg is expecting his second child with wife Priscilla Chan and has decided to take two months of paternity leave, just like he did when Max, was born. 

He posts: “This time, I’m going to take advantage of Facebook’s option to take leave in parts. I’ll take a month off to be with Priscilla and the girls at the beginning, and then we'll spend the whole month of December together as well. At Facebook, we offer four months of maternity and paternity leave because studies show that when working parents take time to be with their newborns, it's good for the entire family. And I'm pretty sure the office will still be standing when I get back.”

This reflects Ziad K. Abdelnour’s philosophy: “Life is like a camera. Focus on what's important. Capture the good times. And if things don’t work out, just take another shot.”