Hindustan Times-careers
09/19/2001 , By Suparna Saraswati
Zoom –in to a challenging career
Photography can be a lucrative career option as revealed by National Award winner; Diwan Manna
Suparna-Saraswati
Youngsters in India are slowly, but surely, becoming aware of the attractions of a new, creative, and challenging profession – photography. It is new because, traditionally photography has been limited to studios. It is creative and challenging because it takes more than just aesthetic sense to capture an unforgettable moment through the lens.
“It is a need based art – the need being common to every household. Human tendency to visually document auspicious and ordinary occasions for the sake of posterity makes this profession very lucrative,” comments Diwan Manna, a Chandigarh-based photo artist, and recipient of the National Award in photography in 1996 from the National Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, and several other awards as well. “Glamorized and visually captivating media exposure is largely responsible for the increased interest in photography as a profession,” opines the renowned photographer. Like other professions, photography too has its own array of specializations. Photo journalism, function, travel, industrial, product, fashion & glamour, forensic, and documentation photography are some of the more lucrative streams as career options. Unfortunately, India lacks sufficient premier or suitably equipped institutes to train professional photographers. The training is generally confined to colleges of art that offer diploma or certificate courses where it is merely a subsidiary discipline and it is student’s prerogative whether or not he wants to take it. What is usually offered and subsequently taught to students is studio photography that has few takers in today’s more challenging and experimental job scenario. Intelligent and motivated youngsters abstain from straight-jacketed employment packages and are looking for adventure and driving ambition that photography provides if taken as a career. For Diwan, photography happened more by default: than by design. “It was the unexpected enthusiastic response to my first exhibition, as an amateur, of the photographs I had clicked on my college trip to Nepal that made me realize that I would not like to be anything else but a photo artist. I survive through freelance enterprise, and believe me, it has paid rich dividends so far!” says a reminiscent Diwan who does industrial photography for his chosen clients namely. Trident and Cement Ambuja in Chandigarh. For aspiring photographers Diwan advises, “A sound basic equipment, an inspiring guru, and an articulated perception in the kind of photography one intends to practice, are the prerequisites for becoming a successful photographer.”
