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Picture perfect

Photo: Murali Kumar K.

Shutterbug Technology gives freedom and control says Raghu Rai

One of the most illustrious journeys in the history of news photography in India began when a baby donkey in a village charmed the pants off an unemployed young man. “I was roaming in the village when I saw this extremely cute donkey. I took my brother’s camera and clicked; it was cute and picture-perfect,” veteran photographer Raghu Rai reminisces. Later, the London Times published his picture in one of their “humour columns” and paid him for it. “The money lasted me two whole months. And I thought – that’s great, and it gave me immense satisfaction too!” And so his tryst with the camera began.

If pictures speak a thousand words, as goes the cliché, Rai’s pictures could speak volumes be it the appalling picture “burial of an unknown child”, which became the icon of the human tragedy that followed the Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal or his evocative and colourful portrayal of exotic India. Today, 44 years later, this recipient of Padmashree award is a world-renowned photographer. “It’s been a great journey,” he says. Currently, Rai is working on a photo book on Mumbai, and soon will do one on South India. At 67, he travels extensively and while “on shoot” works 12 to 13 hours a day. “I am still very much the active photographer,” he says.

Rai gives this interview even as scores of photographers are busy documenting tales of human tragedy and loss in several flood-stricken districts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. What does he think of the photographs that have been appearing in the newspapers everyday? “There is no passion,” he says bluntly. “Technology has made it easy for photographers, but without passion nothing really gets done. You must get to the spot, feel the deluge and feel the picture, to be able to take back that one snap that tells the story,” he insists. Rai minces no words in expressing his disgust for the television camera either: “Sleepy and easy”. Ask him about celebrity photojournalism, and his face contorts into wrinkled disgust: “I don’t know who even started labelling these gimmicks as journalism!” Rai refuses to join the veterans in blaming technology for these falling standards. He believes that digital technology is a great enabler. “It’s far more richer, gives more freedom and control. People tend to blame technology for everything, but that’s as stupid as blaming the knife for murder,” he chuckles.

Things are a lot better for photographers today, Rai points out. So looking back, does he thank that donkey for crossing his path on that fateful day? “Most certainly. when I get behind the camera lens, my world changes. All my energies are focussed on that one frame that I can see through my lens.”

But how does he manage to keep those energies in place in the face of great human tragedies?

The question takes him back to Bhopal, where in 1984 he took one picture after the other, that documented the human tragedy that unfolded in the days after the chemical leak in Bhopal. “Of course, it was depressing. It was equally depressing to go back after two decades and see that the people continue to suffer,” he says.

“In fact, being a news photographer is about having a cool approach but an extremely warm heart so you feel good, bad and indifferent. But the minute you get sentimental, you cease to be able to capture the moment as it is.”

Towards the end of the interview, he turns to the side and strikes a pleasant pose for the photographer. For once, Rai is not behind the lens.

How does it feel not being in control of the picture? “He’s doing his job, just like I’ve done mine all these years,” the veteran concludes.

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