A Close Look

Articulate is the word that immediately comes to mind when one is finished talking to Sanjiv Valsan. He chooses to describe himself as an “obsessive compulsive photographer”. Set to visit the city to conduct an upcoming workshop,called Explorations in Street Photography,along with architect Vaibhavi Agarwal,he shares a secret that’s “not much of a secret at all anymore.” “One learns more from just reading the manual that comes along with the camera than at any workshop,” he says. That is,however,not to say that he is unconvinced about the task on hand; he just has a different and clearly defined understanding of the purpose of his workshop. “Street photography gives you a way in — you learn how the country works,move closer to the people,start understanding relationships between the animate and the inanimate,” says the 36-year-old,who has done projects for BBC,National Geographic and Outlook Traveller.

At the series of workshops — the first of which has already been conducted in the city — the Mumbai-based photographer goes over the basics and then takes participants to the core of the city,to learn from its personality and culture. The thought process he follows is to work out what he can impart at the workshop,which the instruction manual or the internet and various magazines cannot give. “We discuss how one really goes about clicking pictures — do you ask the subject for permission,and how to approach people with sensitivity,” he says.

The clarity of purpose comes from years of personal experience for Valsan,who started off as a journalist. “I see the camera as a social tool. Because of it,I have been invited into so many people’s homes and their personal spaces. Class barriers have been breached,” he says. Valsan tells the story of a trip to Spiti valley,when he went around looking for a certain man called Sonam to help him get a tent. “I hitched a ride to a certain point and then walked to a village that I thought was where Sonam lived. I was also directed to a man called Sonam,except that he wasn’t the man I was looking for. Yet,this stranger invited me into his home,offered me food and then asked me to stay over. I didn’t care about the right guy after that,” he says.