Not many would know that for the revered author of masterpieces Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, photography was Lewis Carroll one recreation. And he pursued it to almost perfection and even toyed with the idea of making a living out of it in his early years! Today, more than a century later, photography seems one of the most popular hobbies catching the global eye. And no, it?s not just about regular holiday, social or family clicking once in a while, but about honing skills, understanding the nuances of the slickest equipment and giving your creative expression a platform.
Grown by leaps and bounds, photography might well be the hottest hobby being actively pursued. Consider this, premier photo-equipment brands like Canon and Nikon have registered a staggering growth in the sale of their entry-level Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras in India in the past one year. DSLRs are much more advanced than the regular pocket digital cameras and until sometime back, were considered a niche category of cameras only for professionals or those exceptional diehard photography fans. But that perception is evaporating, as is evident from the numbers. ?We sold close to 40,000 units of our D3000 DSLR in the past one year, and going by the demand, we hope to better that count this year. The sales are growing at a pace of more than 50% annually in India,? says Hiroshi Takashina, MD, Nikon India. The story for Canon is no different. ?In 2010, we have sold three times more DSLRs already in nine months than what we sold in the whole of last year. For this year, the total sales projection in the DSLR category is around 70,000 units and 90% of these are expected to be from the entry-level segment, which essentially means that the number of photography enthusiasts is growing by the day in India,? says Alok Bharadwaj, senior vice- president, Canon India. And if sales figures are not enough, just look around on the Internet?the number of photography hobby groups and communities, photo-blogs and photo-sharing websites that are becoming hugely popular in India tells this story.
So what is clicking for photography in India?. ?Photography is such that even if you have a camera in your phone, you are in a way compelled to click with it. Digital technology has made it fast, easy and convenient. Easy access to resources, technology and more income at disposal are the overall reasons for this trend,? says Raghu Rai, the most prolific name in Indian photography. Rai, who has seen India grow and develop over the years through his lens and has interacted with umpteen number of photography enthusiasts by means of conducting photography training workshops, believes that this trend is quite pleasing. He adds that easy availability of equipment and it being largely affordable now have pushed up photography on the list of creative hobbies. ?Back in our days, when you had to buy a lens, you had to think that you?ll buy it when you travel abroad or ask a friend from overseas to bring it along whenever he travels to India next. Now everything is available right here and you can pick up any camera or any lens off the shelf in almost every Indian city and camera handling has become so convenient and simple. Also, other creative arts like painting and sculpting are still very expensive to pursue, and hence, photography has been growing rapidly as a popular alternative,? he says.
Companies, too, recognise this trend as a great opportunity to further popularise photography in the country. ?It is very important for companies now to build communities of serious photography enthusiasts to push photography further in India,? says Bharadwaj. Canon has for sometime now been developing its community of photography enthusiasts through its programme, Canon Edge. Nikon also recently started organising photography workshops as the first step towards this objective. With growing interest, especially from the youth, competitive pricing and better and user-friendly technology, photography seems to be clicking well with a lot of those who are looking to give expression to their creativity. And what better than the visual art at that!
Subhashish De (38)
Creative director with a satellite channel
Mumbai
Subhashish had his first tryst with an SLR camera back in 1995 while he was a student at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). He clicked a lot that year and even bought himself an SLR. But as he moved to Mumbai after completing studies, photography was lost somewhere in the daily grind. The interest came calling in full flow again when he got a digital camera as a gift around three years ago. And, after clicking for a couple of years with that, Subhashish finally took the plunge and bought himself a DSLR. He is now taking personal coaching for photography on weekends.
Naysa Ahuja (24)
Legal consultant to a TV network; runs an adventure sports management firm
Delhi
Naysa initially got attracted to photography while still in school. However, she really pursued it as a serious hobby when she was a student at Delhi University. Her passion to travel made the camera a great companion to her. ?The urge initially was to share whatever I was able to see and capture around myself,?she says. Naysa has worked on a number of photo documentaries and is trying out sports photography now.
Somesh Goyal (49)
IPS Officer
Shimla
Goyal is an old hand at photography and has written several books on travel, including two coffee table photography books. Goyal has had a few exhibitions of his works as well. His forte is primarily in wildlife photography. Being the outdoor kinds when he was young, Goyal was always out trekking the hills and that is when his romance with photography initially started. ?The hobby has been just growing on me since then,? he says.
Priyanka Khot (27)
Associate editor with a leading publishing house
Delhi
Priyanka got hooked to photography when she started a blog on the city of Delhi. She clicked herself for her blog posts and that’s when she realised that photography was the thing for her. She is now taking training classes to pursue photography seriously. Priyanka feels that the social media explosion has fueled the growth in the popularity of photography in the country. ?Because of blogging and micro-photoblogging sites like Flikkr, it becomes easy for people to share photos as well as photography tips,? she says.