Photography for me is real fun and I feel happy while shooting outdoor.

I believe that every photo depicts mainly two meanings (even though we can have several countless interpretations of any photograph):

1. Simple meaning to the viewers
2. Philosophical meaning of the photograph to the photographer, which is a very personal one and most of the times – untold.

This particular photograph was taken at Mallickghat, Howrah, Kolkata, India. This is nothing else, but a small reservoir of water for pigeons near the river called Ganga.

On any sunny day the water in it offers great reflections and the very small reservoir looks like a photo frame. So, I took that opportunity and waited for a bird to intervene with the reflection along with the tree. The reflection of the tree was already there, so my job was to wait for a bird to fly over this reservoir, so that I can capture the reflection of it on the water.

This is a very simple frame and simple application of mind. Photography is a philosophic journey and all that associates with it becomes a part of this philosophy.

Obviously, this is not a rocket science, but after taking any photograph one has to make decision how this photograph will be presented to the viewers. I tried converting this frame into black and white. It worked for me as it was very difficult to control the colour version. Just to feel deeply the soul of this image, conversion into black and white was a right choice I guess.

It is very difficult to contain nature within a frame as nature is very vast and the flavour it offers touches directly our soul, which cannot be captured by any camera. Like human, nature also speaks to us, it spreads vibes and one has to feel it, unless you are submerged into the nature completely what I call a total surrender of our all senses, we will not be able to create a bond or relation.

Nature or our Earth loves animals and birds more than human-beings, because they are selfless souls. So, it was intentional to add the tree and the flying bird into the frame within frame, so both valuable elements of the nature are present.

If you feel this frame, you will find an absolute silence and I believe silence has maximum power to communicate. Empty pot always creates noise but a pot which is full never creates noise.

Nowadays we take thousands of photographs daily as we put 64GB cards in our cameras, fire relentlessly and hope to get a beautiful shot out of miss firing. Getting a good photograph is not that easy in synchronization with the philosophy. Philosophy gets developed through a process of self-discipline, perception and a clear-cut concept about self.

What do you think are the TWO most impactful features that make your image a great photograph? Don’t be shy!

I never consider my photograph as great, because great is a relative word. Every photograph I take is like my own baby. It’s like five fingers of my hand, they may be small or tall but has their significant roles to play. Everything has subjective importance.

 Two important features of any photograph should be:

1. Good light source and 
2. Emotion. Emotion depends on perfect moment.

If you would be able to make this photo once again, what would be the ONE thing you would like to do better or different?

I would like to keep it as it is. We all try to achieve the perfection and an artist never achieves 100% of it. The moment people would achieve “100% perfection” the art will die. It is always better to achieve less than the desired target, so that hunger remain forever. When an artist is hungry, he or she explores more.

When we take any photograph, a relation is automatically created, so by trying to rectify my main photograph, we actually try to break that relation which was created without any conditions.

A tree is considered to be strong depends on its expansion of roots inside the soil. The deeper the root is, the stronger is the tree. So, the strength of a tree lies in its root, not in the branches. The first photograph/creation is like that deep root of the tree, sometimes we must avoid tearing or modifying that and instead we should explore new possibilities available in the entire universe.

Raj Sarkar shared his photograph in the FRAMES Facebook Group.

Photographer

Raj Sarkar, India
WEBSITE / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK

Equipment and Settings

Fujifilm X-T2 + XF23mm f/2
1/200 sec., f/11, ISO 1600