A PHOTOJOURNALIST by profession, Sucheta Das, seems somewhat discontented with the current state of photojournalism. She has complains about the treatment dished out to those in this field. Yet, she loves what she does. And hopes the situation would change soon!

 

Her photographs have appeared in national and international vernacular dailies and magazines. She has extensive experience with transmitting photos from remote locations. She has also been awarded National Media Fellowship award and even received World Press photo award from Magdalena Herrera in Amsterdam. Her work speaks through pictures! Who says we need write-ups to understand an incident (or an accident), right Sucheta?

 

The field of photojournalism is not good at present, especially in India. There are very few recognised photojournalists in India. The major problem we are facing is financial, as we don’t have companies to finance us for the latest tools and equipments.

 

 When I was in class two, I had no idea what was photojournalism. But I was very much attracted to newspapers and magazines’ pictures. The colour and action had made me so much attracted to these that by the time I was 15, I had made up my mind to be a photojournalist.

 

 At present if you see most of the newspapers or magazines publish entertainment pictures. The trend has become like that! My view says that in newspapers or magazines, there should be all kinds of pictures – from politics to environment or sports to people. These should mostly highlight the common people’s news, which is not seen that much these days.

 

 It’s a very important role because in short, a photograph speaks thousands of words. You may need to read ten paragraphs to understand the story but a single photograph can make you understand what the story is all about. It doesn’t need words! So in a cover story, it’s very important to have a very understanding picture to make the words small.

 

 It depends…like sometimes a magazine has more space to use wider shot but sometimes these get only one column and for that there is a need to use bold shots. So we have to give different shots or else, they get cropped. So it’s always good to take different types of picture from various angles of one incident.

 

 Of course! Yes, the pictures say more then a write-up. If the picture has been shot right, you need not read the paragraph to understand the topic. If the picture has been taken well, I think, it doesn’t even need a caption!

 

 When I went to capture the pictures of tsunami, Calcutta bomb blast or other such mishaps, it’s very painful. I do not think like…yes, I am here to capture pictures…but when I go to cover, I feel their pain, while I am clicking. I guess that is the pain, which comes in the form of my pictures.

 

 Yes, it is evolving very drastically; today’s technology has made things very easy to work with. Like before, when I had to work with reel it used to be rather difficult like first clicking, then developing the reel, then cleaning it with hard chemicals, etc, etc…. But today, we just have to plug it with out system and it’s done! Ready for publishing. In short, it saves a lot of time.

 

 I don’t think so… I told you this before that the field of photojournalism is not good at present, especially in India. There are very few recognized photojournalists in India. At present, even the journalists have started capturing the story images into their cameras. There is not much difference left between them and us, and may be, that is the reason that photojournalists are recognised for their work.

 

 (Smiles) … Well, at present I don’t think that I am in a position of giving an advice to the students but all I want the students to know is when you are in this field, always highlight the original story. It is very important to have the actual picture with the original story.