Vikram Bawa tells Nilanjana Sengupta that he wants to shoot the world
Vikram Bawa the photographer?Yes, just three years into the profession full-time and he has already created a name for himself.
With a studio on Peddar Road where he conducts his shoots, this guy is always experimenting.
quot;I am never satisfied with one thing. I have to keep trying out different techniques and styles.quot; Maybe that is why his works reflect something different all the time. quot;I want to shock people,quot; he says.
Why is he in the news now?Well, he has developed a gadget with which he can shoot 3-D photographs. quot;It took me one year to develop the technique. It is like normal photography but where the photograph comes out like a 3-D image. It adds a different dimension to the photograph,quot; explains Bawa.
And this technique is being used for the first time in India.quot;I think no one has used it as yet, at least it is not known if anyone has in India,quot; he says, adding, quot;In the US, the UK and other parts of Europe there are 3D clubs where photographers meet and discuss. There are various forms of 3-D photography. I am using one which is easy to reprint.
Photographs which look like a collection of dots till you stare at it and a picture emerges is another form. Though it is more prevalent in the West, the number of 3-D photographers around the world is not much,quot; he says.
Where was his 3-D work used recently?The cover of the August issue of the Times Journal of Photography and the fashion feature in the June issue of ELLE were shot by Bawa using the 3-D camera. quot;Unfortunately, the printing of the ELLE issue was not carried out properly and the effect was lost,quot; he says.
How did he go about developing this technique?quot;I had read about it around a year-and-a-half ago in a 40-year-old magazine!quot; he says. When NASA sent the Rover to click pictures of Mars, the images it was sending back were 3-D which the scientists viewed with special glasses. With the glasses on, it was almost as if the scientists were inside the Rover driving it. The camera, Bawa read, cost around 3 million. quot;I made mine in Rs 1,000!,quot; he says. quot;Because I am a Math graduate, it becomes that much easier to experiment. There is a lot of calculation involved in this art,quot; he says.
So when did he think of taking up this art as a profession?Three years ago, he walked out of his partnership business in chemicals.
Till then he was always reading books on photography and experimenting with the camera. He had also done some short-term courses in photography. His mother, graciously shifted her boutique on Peddar Road to the basement and allowed Bawa to set up his studio on the ground floor.
What kind of work does he usually do?quot;I do people and fashion mostly,quot; he says but he would love to do landscapes and architecture as well. Travelling 400 kilometres everyday while he was looking after the business made him sensitive to landscapes. quot;There is nothing I would rather do other than photography. I just want to pick up the camera and shoot the world! And someday I will do just that,quot; he smiles.
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