Especially when you havent drawn in ages and are stuck on the notion that each stroke from the tip of your HB should reveal a master piece. Sounds vain and stupid but happens to the best of us (and perhaps THAT is the problem!). We are never as good as we think we are because for all of us who graduated, joined agencies and got addicted to the sound of ka-ching, drawing is a skills we have lost touch with.
A documentry on Japanese manga and anime recently inspired me to get back to the drawing board (literally). Being an animator, its a moment of shame when i cant properly translate a posture from my mind onto paper. So i ventured to the park with my trusy 6B and a sketch book. 'Sure, i can do quick stick drawings. Itll be a fun study and ill get back into my groove in no time' i thought to myself.....untill i started drawing! Yes....im that bad!! Doing quick sketches under a minute (about 20 seconds or so) and capturing the feel and posture of your subject right is HARD!! it used to be fun...what happened? Complacency overcame ambition. i am utterly ashamed of myself and have vowed to draw more. A whole lot more! So now im the creepy woman in the park staring at kids and old men and making notes in my notebook. But really im just drawing...honestly!
Anyway, ill make a confession today. I became an animator because i was never good with a camera (and you can just shutup about my drawing skills! :P ) . It was always easier to draw stuff then make sense of angles and lighting and shutter speed and all that nonsense. Yes, the camera is scarier than drawing. So i admire anyone who can take decent pictures and capture moments that move you. Recently i came about a few picture taken by journalist and amateur photographer Salman Siddiqui. They were beautiful. Not in the sense that they are works of art or are the best photographs anyone has ever taken, but that despite the some what depressing subject matter, the colours and framing and feel takes you right there in the moment. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, these left me somewhat speechless.
'A young child finds shelter in a cardboard box near a gutter in Karachi on Saturday afternoon' reads the caption. Now i know how annoying it is to read about how and what makes something good. Ofcourse you can judge for yourself but you have to admire the fact that he crops the head and all of a sudden it becomes a statement. This kid has no face, no name and its not about just one child at all. Its about the millions of people who suffer this fate on a daily basis and yet we still walk past them easily without blinking twice as we go about our business. The high contrast in this picture matches the context so brilliantly. Really like this one.
This other one (or the series) is a true Kodak moment. The child was sleeping when these pictures were taken. The click of the camera woke him up. He stared at the camera with his groggy eyes and went straight back to sleep.
I havent seen much of Salman's photography but from what little i have seen, his eye for innocence and innate ability to capture it beautifully shines through. And even though it terrifies me, he makes me want to pick up my dusty SLR and go on a shooting spree of my own. Not the bloody kind tough :P
