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Camera simplifies people for me

After all those years of hearing ‘Say cheese for the camera,’ it seems almost unbelievable when photographer Anusha Yadav doesn’t even use those words. But then ‘spontaneous’ is a word that best describes everything about Anusha – from her style of photography and design to her many career changes to the way she seamlessly switches between time and places while animatedly talking to us about her romance with the camera.

Just like her photographs, Anusha too has many facets to herself. A Communication Design graduate from NID, Ahmedabad, she worked in advertising, web, and graphic design before she was drawn by the allure of capturing lives in a moment of stillness. “Advertising was at its peak in the 1990s when I joined Enterprise as an intern,” says Anusha. “It was not just about making money; people were passionate about advertising and I was well trained to be a stickler of paying attention to details and develop good ideas.”

After her working in advertising and a brush with a web company, Anusha went back to pure graphic design, working for Gopika Chowfla. “That’s where my ideas and design sense really strengthened,” she tells us.

After a sabbatical in the US, she started working for Photo Ink, designing photography books. At Photo Ink, Anusha was exposed to a lot of interesting photography. “It was a great place to learn about international photography. Photography was not just about fashion or interiors or single beautiful pictures, it was also about people’s personal visual language. It was about social and a personal phenomena.”

As much as photography and designing books intrigued her, she missed working with noise and people — she went back to work with Lowe in Mumbai. But print advertising, which had once been a hero, was dying and Anusha started losing interest. She started freelancing as a designer, but it didn’t quite fall in to place.

Anusha then enrolled for a masters program at the University of Brighton. Later, her first photography assignment came from Verve Magazine and it happened to be with Rakhi Sawant. “I never asked Rakhi to pose and just photographed her the way she is. I don’t know how to photograph people when they pose. I can’t direct them, direction is a form of control, which I don’t know how to exercise on other people” Anusha quips. And that’s when Anusha really took up the camera.

Why are you a Photographer?

I am a complex person and its difficult for me to understand other people. Over time I have come to understand that the camera simplifies other people for me; with a camera it’s much easier. Photography is a great tool to learn about people’s thoughts, circumstances, and choices to understand them. With the kind of photography I do, I really don’t know what I am going to get.

For me, photography is all about a relationship with the other person. I get fascinated with the environment that the people are photographed in. The environment puts a context to who they are and what they do. The place, the mood, the smells, and noise all add up to give energy to the shot. They also give a lateral meaning to what I want to say. As far as earning bread and butter is concerned I sell prints and I photograph weddings, events, reunions, portraits, and parties too. But it’s because I love doing it. That is how I started to photograph other people, I would carry my camera to parties and get togethers. If a client calls me to ask if I can shoot a party, it is because they appreciate the style that I shoot in. I am not going out of my comfort level to do something that I don’t like doing.

What is the right picture for you?

I don’t pay attention to what I am photographing. But, if your heart leaps then it’s a right picture; your heart should go ‘ah!’ It should narrate the story you intended to tell and you need to give a context. However, story and moments are different things. Photographing a portrait or a relationship in a single frame is when moments become important and those that make a story.

I go blank when people ask me about aperture, shutter speed, ISOs, or other technical stuff. All that matters to me is the right exposure. If I think about technical stuff, I miss the moment. I am more interested in forming a relationship with the person I am going to shoot. And, if I already have a relationship, then I explore it and exploit it visually. The exploration itself is spontaneous!

I never crop my photos, its the sanctity of a frame. It gives a sense of respect to the intention with which what you photograph. A good picture cannot be an after thought. The hardest part is editing is being un-emotional. You need to see it from a second person’s point of view. The difficult part is also to choose from 50 pictures- just that one picture.

You are also called a celebrity photographer. How did it happen?

I am very uncomfortable with that term. But in photography, whatever or whoever it may be, I like to find contradiction or a complement. I wanted to break the norm of how known people are looked at in India, I wanted to see them as they sit in their living rooms or hang around with friends and family. I have always been fascinated with a side a personality has never been showcased — to show them as approachable people and not super humans. Or even the other way around.

As far as celebrities are concerned, I don’t see them as glamorous people. I see them as people who have a lot of faces to show but also have a private and personal side. I got great opportunities to photograph a few of them — they too have their own complexities and conditions that go with the profession. But on the other hand, they are also as normal and simple as ordinary people.

You need to have an honest relationship with everyone you photograph. You need to tell them why you are photographing them and where you will showcase them. As a african quote about photography goes – “You are actually taking a piece of their soul.” You may think it’s difficult to shoot people, but there is no one difficult to shoot! The photographer has to be as comfortable as the other person. It is important to make them feel comfortable with you. For some, one hour is all it takes; but for some even three days is not enough. It teaches you to be patient. Celebrities are not uncomfortable in front of a camera, but they are very aware and critical of their own photographs. They are conditioned to show and see sides of themselves that are public faces and that takes time and honesty to break.

The process for all projects is simple. I speak with them and fix a time to meet them with a camera. Then I start chatting and photograph them while I am talking to them. I don’t have an assistant and I don’t want one! The Indian Film Industry story is currently on the backburner but I am working on a couple of new projects.

Tell us about these new projects
The first project is about foreigners living in Mumbai – people from different nationalities and backgrounds who live in India. This project was inspired by the the one I have done in Salzburg.

I am a restless and nomadic person and have moved many cities and countries over the years. That makes me terribly interested in why other people migrate, what makes them move continents, countries, lifestyles, friends, and families to come to India – one of the most difficult and chaotic places to live in. I am very fascinated with their reasons and choices for which they moved: be it a job, love, spirituality, family, or sex! The other project is photographing contemporary Indian women, portraits of the empowered. They are across all ages. I like to photograph them in their homes, as women, I have come to find, share a romance with their living spaces.

You have founded the India Memory Project. Where is it right now?

I wanted to collect wedding photos for a book and when people started sharing photos on Facebook and started telling stories about their photos, it was the start of India Memory Project. The idea was slowing falling in place.

Manjri Rajopadhye, a friend from Mumbai and an NID graduate as well, gave me a picture of her grandfather who was a chemistry professor. Along with his friend, they founded Surat University. These were unknown people with great accomplishments. It had to be shared. This project has given me an opportunity to understand India and her people. I am fascinated with history and these photographs reveal a lot of history. I enjoy these stories while they form my very own historical gossip and awe!

There are about 60 photos now. Usually people do not have time to scan and send me the photos. So I am collecting more pictures by scanning them as I find them. I am looking for funding to take this project off the blog format to convert it to a portal. Sometime in the future, I hope to make it into a foundation, take it across the world as a traveling exhibition, make it into a book, and support similar memory projects worldwide. I will be travelling to Singapore in October 2010 to talk about India Memory Project at the ‘When Nations Remember’ summit.

If you have to teach photography, what will you do?

In design schools, you may learn the technical stuff: Aperture, Shutter Speed etc. I am glad that I learnt about washing my negatives, printing in the dark room, and choosing your 36 frames wisely. It helps me be a little deliberate about framing a picture and yet be involved completely at the time of the shoot.

I do remember Dayanita Singh’s 2-week workshop at NID. One of the things that she asked us to do was a self-portrait and that is the hardest thing to do. To point the camera at yourself, unless there is a side that you know you want to portray. It’s even harder when you are young and you don’t know what sides you may have!

Dayanita was the first person to introduce to us the idea of photographing a relationship. She asked us to photograph someone you didn’t like, and also your boyfriend or your girlfriend! The closer you are to a person and start crossing boundaries, you get better pictures. What I can teach is how to build a story, how to build a relationship through a camera, and how to develop a point of view.

Some people want to learn from me, as they assume that I am a just celebrity photographer and that they might get to hang out with them. But one, that will never happen as I don’t carry assistants, two – that is just one story. There are so many more to see and explore.

Who are your idols?

You don’t copy idols, but you have to only learn from them. It’s not just about the photographs, but it’s about how they think, and how they ‘look.’

I love a lot of work done by others. I love Annie Leibovitz, Nan Goldin, Diane Arbus and Elliot Erwitt’s work. And from India, I like Anita Khemka, Amit Madhesia, Prashant Panjiar. There are more yes and it’s a mixture of all: documentary, glamorous, paparazzi, product, etc. They do some interesting work and it’s their very own point of view.

Does being a woman help you?

Absolutely! A woman photographer has more access to people than a male photographer. People are more open to women photographers as they feel safer.

Also we as women become intuitively aware of boundaries that must be respected or can be broken without disrespect very quickly. Most women are aware that with a male photographer, they are mostly looked at with a sexually explorative eye, which can work in their favor or not. People even change in front of me and reveal private things, with no qualms or hesitation.

A male photographer will never experience or probably take very long to do so. I am of the opinion that people don’t express themselves completely towards male photographers. The only time it did not work in my favor was when I was shooting a Pakistani gentleman. Culturally restrictive, most are not comfortable opening up to women who are strangers.

I also believe women are more curious by nature which makes them better photographers than men worldwide. Of course they should know how to use their gender to their advantage. Because the subject is a lot more comfortable than they know. In the end, male or female one needs to just trust and be honest with their point of view and that’s when there will be justice to anything one does. If a client trusts what you do and what you could come up with, there is nothing more flattering than that.

JAM (just a minute…)

What is the best moment of the day at work?

A call for work and a cheque.

If there were one person you would like to photograph. Who is the person?

I want to show things that are not seen. I would love to photograph Robert Downey Jr. I find him very attractive. and interesting. Politicians of India is another subject. I also want to shoot Post Offices because we don’t get to see letters these days.

One word that would define your style?

A personal relationship or a personal stake.

One thing that you would like to change in the present system?

Appreciation of new work and payments on time.

If you were an animated character, which one would it be?

Dexter. He is a scientific genius who has figured it all out.

If someone wrote a biography about you, what do you think the title should be?

I still don’t know myself.

What are you afraid of regarding the future?

In India, people are afraid of the new, which is different from what I see in other countries. There are a few who do appreciate the new, but it’s going to take a lot of time for most people to appreciate and welcome new ideas and art.

India is not yet an individualistic country. Mostly we live on borrowed or inculcated ideas. But I think its time to stop that. Everything in India cannot be a negotiation. Every thing is ‘Chalta Hai,’ and it’s very scary! It’s an open invitation to comfortable mediocrity. When I photograph, I am not negotiating with the quality of the picture.

What are the challenges you face in the present context?

I don’t like to educate my clients about possibilities in photography or design; It is a waste of time. They will never be convinced. They must be pre-educated and open to new ideas. More so they must be people with self assured opinions and views.

The biggest challenge in India is to make sure that your work is not stolen or asking for freebies or to drop your cost with promises for new work.

Many people have liked my work and want to do projects but are not willing to pay for it. I consider it disrespectful to the work we do and want to do. It’s very sad because culturally we are not taught to respect other person’s work and new ideas or we forgot it somewhere along the way. Moreover, your work is appreciated only if it’s appreciated abroad.

One aspect of design you give the highest priority to?

Spontaneity

One design-related book you highly recommend to read?

I think it is important to read books, be it comic strips, to develop an imagination. To develop a voice you need to know how many free voices there are.

Susan Sontag’s “On Photography” is a great book to read. It’s a great start to understand what photography has become.

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