Photographer Interview: Udit Kulshrestha

View Udit Kulshreshtha's photography on Flickr, follow him on Facebook and Lightstalkers.

D&B: Where are you from?
UK: I hail from Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India and am based out of Gurgaon, Haryana; a suburb of New Delhi, India.

D&B: What kind of photography do you shoot and how did you get started - any "formal" training?
UK: While survival makes me shoot people and lifestyle for advertising, editorial and my corporate clientele. My personal works revolve fine art and social documentaries.

In 2007-2008 I was smitten by still life while this year my focus is around abstract, conceptual and people-based works. Street is still my favorite playground for most of my subjects.

I hail from an artist family. My Grandfather taught music, my maternal grandmother won the first Oscar in India for her dresses in the movie Gandhi, my uncle a wedding photographer... I guess the art was passed onto me genetically.

In reality, I found it in 2007 when I actually started experimenting with my camera, having quit my corporate career post 8 years as a marketer. Passing through a dark phase in life, I started on this quest to find a few answers with the camera as my friend. Experimentation was the key and the perfectionist in me helped me grow and learn on my own.

Subsistence, Papadwala - Copyright Udit Kulshrestha

D&B: What cameras or techniques do you use?
I am a digital photographer. I normally use my Canon 5D and Canon 40D. However for my commercial work I often end up using a Canon Mark III or a 4x5 Sinar.

D&B: Who are your mentors (in photography)?

UK: Steve McCurry and Dinesh Khanna’s work has had major influence, especially around colour. However, it is World Press Photo Award Winner Pablo Bartholomew, who has guided me and mentored me from time to time by critiquing my work and helping me grow.

Also, when I started photographing, I chanced across this amateur photography club, ‘DFC’ in Delhi and Sid Trehan, its founding member handheld me from time to time, coaching me, teaching me a few techniques, taking me along on shoots, thereby fueling my quest. Whilst I struggled with post processing, it was the graphic designer and art photographer Mr. Sanjay Nanda, who still reviews my work and has taught me the basics of the digital darkroom.

Sandeep Biswas, another art photographer who often shoots with me has coached me in various ways personally. Finally, it was the art photography curator Mr. Ajay Rajgarhia, who spotted my works and showcased them in an exhibition.

These and my friends and colleagues have always encouraged me to better myself.

D&B: When did you realize you could have a career in photography? Describe your journey towards becoming a working photographer.

UK: October 2007 is when I realized that photography was my calling in life. Initially I chanced to speak to Pro Photographer - Dinesh Khanna who told me that socio-documentary and art photography were not sustainable careers. Hence, I started building my skill sets into advertising photography and worked for a photography studio in Delhi to learn the basics of studio.

My parents were against me getting into this career as all they had been exposed to, was wedding photography and did not want me to be a wedding photographer. They also knew I wanted this very much and finally gave me a go ahead. My first commercial break came to me in March 2008 with a fashion assignment and there has been no looking back. In fact, one of my works this year is a finalist in the prestigious Advertising Awards – OneShow and another body of work on a genre called ‘staged street’ has been submitted in the Cannes Advertising Awards this year.

Faith and Beyond (Hinduism), Samagri Seller - Copyright Udit Kulshrestha

D&B: What do you hope to achieve with your photography?
UK: Photography for me is a not only a form of creative expression, but also a statement that defines my ethos and value systems as an individual. It not only allows me to interpret my society but also helps me introspect into the very being that defines me.

I chance upon my country and its various facets everyday that move me to help contribute to make it a better country. Child labour, social security, poverty, religion and India’s cultural diversity are subjects that are very close to me where I would want to contribute to help shape up a better India for the future generations.

D&B: What's your dream photography project?
UK: A documentary on my personal story or a War photography documentary definitely.

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Photographer Interview: Moye

View Moye's photography online.

D&B: Where are you from?
MOYE: (laughing) That is always such a loaded questions for me and I get it often. As usual, I keep it short and sweet. I was born in Nuremberg, Germany and my youth was full of new place and things all the time. Never lived anywhere for more than 2 – 3 years up until about 10th grade.

D&B: What kind of photography do you shoot and how did you get started - any "formal" training?
MOYE: I don’t associate my self with one kind of photography, however I do photograph people a lot. I love the emotion in their face. I love creating with all of their emotions and all the energy they exude, and mostly I enjoy finding myself in others.

I have no formal training. I am a self-taught photographer.

D&B: What cameras or techniques do you use?
MOYE: At the present time I use Nikon Digital equipment and Adobe Photoshop. My Adobe Photoshop use is very minimal, though I'm quite familiar with the program.

D&B: Who are your mentors (in photography)?
MOYE: I have no photography mentors, though I admire the work of a few photographers, but painters like Frida and O’Keefe really speak to me as visual artists.

D&B: Have you experienced any setbacks or different treatment along your photography career that you would attribute to being a woman and/or photographer of color? (this question is optional) MOYE: If I have, it has gone over my head. I am so involved in my art and my vision for my art, that if anyone has even attempted to hold me back in anyway, then it was exactly that "an attempt." For me, there are no Plan B’s or C’s, my art is my purpose and passion and I can’t help but live in that at every moment and everyday.

D&B: When did you realize you could have a career in photography? Describe your journey towards becoming a working photographer.
MOYE: I don’t know that it was ever a realization. I have always been involved in the arts. Having an artistic way of seeing is one of the gifts I’ve been seeing. I chose to listen to that and be in that space. I was introduced to photography around the early middle school years when my cousin gave my father a Minolta Camera. My father didn't bother with it much and so I picked it up and the journey began and my world opened up, I opened up more.

I begin to connect with others in new ways, in deeper ways. In high school I took a photography class and learned how to develop my own film, leaned about different types of films, and was introduced to a lot of the basics of photography. After high school, I enrolled in UNC – Charlotte to study photography, but I never made it to my major. I was looking for something more in my photography and personal experiences, so I left and just began exploring on my own. I worked for a photography company for a while and started my own business in the process.

D&B: What do you hope to achieve with your photography?
MOYE: I will help others and myself open doors to places untouched, to keep the catalyst alive in places already discovered, and to push the boundaries of what society views as beautiful and artistic.

D&B: What's your dream photography project?
MOYE: To capture myself when I explode.

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Photographer Interview: Walter Astrada

Photojournalist and press photographer Walter Astrada won "1st Prize Stories" in the Spot News category of the 2009 World Press Photo contest. I read about him in a recent issue of PDN magazine. Astrada's image of a 7-year old Kenyan boy screaming as a policeman approached his home (shown below) struck me hard. This image haunted my memory for days as I thought about the fear and terror in this little boy's heart.

Walter Astrada recently took time out from his travels through Uganda to grant Dodge & Burn this interview.

D&B: Where are you from?
W&A: I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but since 1999 I'm traveling and living outside my country.

D&B: What kind of photography do you shoot and how did you get started - any "formal" training?
WA: I shoot for wire services but also I shoot long term projects. For example now I'm working on one about "violence against women" in different kinds of violence in different countries and continents.

I started it in Guatemala documenting the killing of women (what is called "Feminicide") in 2006 and 2007, last year and this I was documenting the sexual violence in Congo. Later this year I will be documenting violence against women in India.

I hope to be working in one European country next year.

Copyright Walter Astrada, Argentina, Agence France-Presse.
Monday Lawiland (7) screams as a policeman approaches his home, in the opposition stronghold of Kibera, in Nairobi, on January 17th.

D&B: What cameras or techniques do you use?
WA: Since 2003 I use only digital. Actually I'm using Nikon D700 and passing to fixed lens again.

D&B: Who are your mentors (in photography)?
WA: Really, I don't have one mentor.

D&B: When did you realize you could have a career in photography? Describe your journey towards becoming a working photographer.

WA: I don't know really, but at 13 years old I decided that I wanted to be a photojournalist after seen an exhibition of Argentinean press photographers.

When I finished high school, I made a workshop on photojournalism and the next year I made another. When I finished the second one, to the best students the prize was an internship in the main newspaper, La Nacion.

When I finished the internship it was not possible to stay on as photographer. I decided to continue working on my own to prepare a portfolio and leave Argentina. When I was ready to leave I called the photo editor of La Nacion to show my portfolio. After he finished looking at it, he asked me if I was working for anybody. My answer was no because I made the portfolio working on my own.

He offered me a 3-day test to be photographer. After the 3 days I was working as a photographer there.

But what I wanted was to be traveling and shooting my own projects - 2 years later I resigned and I started to traveling in South America.

AP [Associated Press] took me to work as correspondent in Bolivia first, later Argentina and Paraguay. Later came The Dominican Republic, living in Spain, etc.

Actually, now I'm working as freelancer, doing some assignments for AFP [Agence France Presse] but principally I'm trying to work on my personal projects.

What do you hope to achieve with your photography?

WA: I know that it's not possible to change the world with one photograph, but I hope if after some people see my work and they start to think that what they see is not right, then I think I achieved my purpose. For that principally I work on topics where human rights are not respected.

D&B: What's your dream photography project?
WA: Actually, I'm working on something which I consider to be a very important project - it is about violence against women.

I think it is a problem that not many people are giving enough importance to, but we can't talk about 100% of human rights being respected when 50% of the population of any country is under threat of been punched, hit, tortured, raped, battered, killed...

Do you have questions for Walter?
Submit them in the comments below and I will ask for another interview to get answers to the best ones.

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Stephen Mayes on the Under Represented in Photojournalism (Awards)

A link I clicked on from the EPUK Weekly News Roundup email emphasizes the power of the headline: "90% of the pictures are about 10% of the world."

This quote comes from a juror of the World Press Photo Awards. This statistic instantly grabbed my attention, speaking to the lack of (topical and conceptual) diversity in photography today.

In this audio and blog post by Stephen Mayes, World Press Photo Secretary for six years, he mentions how as a juror and viewer of photojournalism he finds "huge gaps" in the "black culture and expanded vision of black life outside Africa."

Mayes later goes on to say that what is lacking in photojournalism is work that "is really intimate and truly personal". When listing what it takes to win a competition like the World Press Photo Awards, Mayes jokingly quotes another juror saying that it helps if you are "American, male, white and shooting black and white - so there are some standards." Right after he says "I'm just kidding", but I'm a firm believer that there's some truth to every joke.

Kidding or not, as a juror Mayes has probably seen a lack of diversity in the makeup of applicants. So the lesson here is clear:

1. We need more photographers of color to authentically document their communities

2. If they're already out there working, these photographers should be encouraged to enter and qualify for such prestigious awards

I found Mayes' comments to be very enlightening and credible as someone who has seen/judged almost half a million images as a juror. This is truly a call to action.

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Photographer Interview: Jamel Shabazz

In 2001, I reviewed Jamel's visual diary of old-skool hip hop Back in the Days (powerHouse Books) for a website. Jamel's monograph cemented my beliefs that there was a dignity and elegance to the b-boy and fly girl lifestyle. Graffiti walls became modern day frescoes while shearling coats, gold jewelry and shell top kicks were undeniably haute couture.

After recently meeting photographer Jamel Shabazz in person, I have a new found respect for the man and his work. Watching how he warmly addresses strangers and listens attentively while in conversation, it's easy to see how Jamel gains the trust of his subjects to create such compelling portraits.

D&B: Where are you from?
JS: I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York during the turbulent 1960’s where I resided in two major areas, Red Hook and East Flatbush.

Photographer Jamel Shabazz in action

D&B: What kind of photography do you shoot and how did you get started - any "formal" training?
JS: I've engaged in three specific areas of photography documentary, fashion, and fine arts. I became interested in photography around 1975 after viewing an incredible body of images from a member of a gang called the Jolly Stompers. The photographer’s name was Sundance (Cornel Reid); he was an (Warlord) official in that particular gang, and the cousin of one of my good friends.

The photographs in the albums were of gang members and their affiliates; all dressed in the latest fashion of that time and posing with strength and confidence. After seeing those images I was captivated and decided that I wanted to take pictures in that same manner. I borrowed my mother’s 110 Kodak Instamatic cameras and went on a mission to document my peers, in a fashion similar to that of Sundance.

Upon taking my first photographs, I was amazed with how I was able to compliment my subjects and make them feel good about themselves a nd the whole experience of being photograph. Photography then became a way of life for me, and I then knew what my purpose was.

© Jamel Shabazz, The Art of War, 1980

D&B: What cameras or techniques do you use?
JS: My father was a professional photographer, so as time would go on, I would purchase my first real camera, a Canon AE 1. He would impart to me some of the fundamentals of photography such as lighting, composition, processing, and creativity.

I presently work with 2 basic cameras, a Canon 5D and a Contax 645 (medium format). I primarily shoot black and white, so my film of choice is ILFORD HP5 400 and ILFORD PANF PLUS 50 film. I work with a Mac Book Pro computer that has allowed me to take my vision to a whole new level.

© Jamel Shabazz, Mystic, Paris, 2009

D&B: Who are your mentors (in photography)?
JS: When it comes to mentors, Professor Deborah Willis is one who I can truly speak of. I have only known her for about 10 years but, during that time she has shown me the importance of documenting, preserving and exhibiting our history, as a way to educate and to preserve our legacy.

Another person I consider a mentor, is veteran photographer Tony Barboza. Since joining the photo collective Kamoinge, Tony who is the president, has provided me with a wealth of knowledge. He has taught me aspects of the craft that have enabled me to grow and think outside the box. Others who I must mention are Howard Cash, Danny Dawson, Gerald Cyrus, Sulaiman Ellison, Ernie Paniccioli, and Gil Noble. I am truly grateful to them and the countless others, who have aided me in my growth over the years.

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