Journalism of Courage
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 thats 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.
