I have a fear of heights. Not that I have vertigo. I am scared of falling off from a great height and hurting myself bad. Even more scared than being run over by speeding cars on a busy Kolkata road. Though a little less, but I feel the same way for my cellphone, especially when it is stacked up precariously on a wobbly table top. That is what each one of us had to photograph, first up in the camera workshop for lighting & lensing. I am a film school student, at SRFTI, here in Kolkata. Mr. Tanmay Agarwal had come all the way from Pune for this and ended up breaking his Macbook.
We had to switch off our cellphones and stack it up in the middle of the class. What each one of us wants was the next question. He asks each one us, demanding an individual answer. I could so easily escape answering these uncomfortable questions all through my school and college. Those were the classes of about 50. I am sitting in a film school, in a class of 10. One was down with fever. 9 in class. No escape for me now. "Pursuit of happiness", they all agreed. I have always managed to make a fool out of myself every time I have pursued happiness. "But I have learned more from the sorrows. I would rather pursue knowledge", I spurted out a little revolt. The discussion dissolved into the pursuit of whatever makes each one of us happy. The oldest two of the lot smiled a smile of wisdom. The rest smiled a smile of victory. I am still trying to figure out whom they conquered?
Now that we agree that each one of us is pursuing happiness, we have to set out on this journey together. Together!!! Sir, Mr. Tanmay Agarwal, did you say together!!??
Together - with or in proximity to another person or people.
Sir, you had no idea how terribly we have failed to be together time and again. Some of us, especially me, at times find it so hard to just be. And you ask us to be, that too together? We have failed to be together in the past, both prehistoric and recent. I see no hope of that happening in the future, both distant and near. Because we are not pursuing the same thing. It is easy to say each one of us is here to pursue happiness. But to each one of us happiness means something else. I disagree that we pursue happiness itself. We pursue the different things that happiness means to each one of us. I don't know if film-making means happiness to each one of us. I can only speak for myself.
We had to set ground rules for ourselves. So that we stick with each other in this pursuit. One of the old wise ones came up with the idea of a punishment.
Punishment - the infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offense.
Dear old wise one, I hate punishments. Because it scares the shit out of me. It stops me from trying out new ways, sailing into uncharted territory. And makes me feel guilty once I make mistakes, which I invariably do. We move out of the class to get a cane, each one of us. As I break off a slender branch and get rid of the leaves I remember my grandfather's anecdote. The thinner the cane, the more the pain.
Mr. Tanmay rejects the idea of punishments. He asks us to decide on the deterrent that would make us stick together.
Deterrent - a thing that discourages or is intended to discourage someone from doing something.
At the beginning of every session, each one of us has to switch off our cellphones and stack it up on his desk. All of us has to be there 15 minutes before the session starts, or the class gets dismissed right there. And the session does not continue if even one of us has to leave before the session is supposed to end.
Sounds simple. But it is dangerous to the principles on which we have been functioning all these months. Each one for himself. But I was interested to see how the tide turns to Unity in spite of Diversity. Mind you, an emotional diversity. The one down with fever joins us for the class.
Ground rules set. Workshop starts. Photograph the stack of phones. Find the position you would place your camera. The fear of my cellphone falling off the table. 9 of them start moving all around. I keep standing where I am. No matter where I move, I am afraid of it falling. Everyone settles down, almost all of them on there knees, pretty close to the stack each one of them. Almost ready to catch it as it falls. We all take pictures of them prettily stacked. Half of those pictures seem alike. The first half ends.
The second half starts. Phones are all back in the stack. The one down with fever is again late. Half of us trying to get hold of a camera. Rest half in class, listening to Mr. Tanmay. He is visibly, and understandably, put off. Take a pretty picture of a bridge. My campus is quite picturesque. There is greenery almost every where. A big pond, and several connecting foot bridges over them. Just make it look pretty.
I am trying to go back to all the photography classes I have ever been to. All that I have ever been told about composition. I take a shot and come back to where Mr. Tanmay was standing. He asks me to get to where the huddles of the rest of us were with the camera, and get the bridge photographed.
We all come back to class and get to see what each one of us has done. I am trying to recollect my camera configurations for each of the shots. Again, half of our photos look the same. "Mentally & physically lazy." That is what he made of us. An out of focus photograph of one of us was better than the rest.
The whole session, more than once, had broken into smaller conversations among us. Each trying to put forth ones understanding of the camera. The discussion comes down to the focal length of a lens. It has always been a question I have had found difficult to answer. I came up with several answers, reading up and listening to various people talk about it. And I take the focal length of a lens as the distance between the center of the lens and the sensor on which the image forms, when the object is very very far away. And as the object comes closer, the focusing system of the lens comes into play. This helps in forming the sharpest possible image on the sensor.
I am eager to see what he has to say about this....
We had to switch off our cellphones and stack it up in the middle of the class. What each one of us wants was the next question. He asks each one us, demanding an individual answer. I could so easily escape answering these uncomfortable questions all through my school and college. Those were the classes of about 50. I am sitting in a film school, in a class of 10. One was down with fever. 9 in class. No escape for me now. "Pursuit of happiness", they all agreed. I have always managed to make a fool out of myself every time I have pursued happiness. "But I have learned more from the sorrows. I would rather pursue knowledge", I spurted out a little revolt. The discussion dissolved into the pursuit of whatever makes each one of us happy. The oldest two of the lot smiled a smile of wisdom. The rest smiled a smile of victory. I am still trying to figure out whom they conquered?
Now that we agree that each one of us is pursuing happiness, we have to set out on this journey together. Together!!! Sir, Mr. Tanmay Agarwal, did you say together!!??
Together - with or in proximity to another person or people.
Sir, you had no idea how terribly we have failed to be together time and again. Some of us, especially me, at times find it so hard to just be. And you ask us to be, that too together? We have failed to be together in the past, both prehistoric and recent. I see no hope of that happening in the future, both distant and near. Because we are not pursuing the same thing. It is easy to say each one of us is here to pursue happiness. But to each one of us happiness means something else. I disagree that we pursue happiness itself. We pursue the different things that happiness means to each one of us. I don't know if film-making means happiness to each one of us. I can only speak for myself.
We had to set ground rules for ourselves. So that we stick with each other in this pursuit. One of the old wise ones came up with the idea of a punishment.
Punishment - the infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offense.
Dear old wise one, I hate punishments. Because it scares the shit out of me. It stops me from trying out new ways, sailing into uncharted territory. And makes me feel guilty once I make mistakes, which I invariably do. We move out of the class to get a cane, each one of us. As I break off a slender branch and get rid of the leaves I remember my grandfather's anecdote. The thinner the cane, the more the pain.
Mr. Tanmay rejects the idea of punishments. He asks us to decide on the deterrent that would make us stick together.
Deterrent - a thing that discourages or is intended to discourage someone from doing something.
At the beginning of every session, each one of us has to switch off our cellphones and stack it up on his desk. All of us has to be there 15 minutes before the session starts, or the class gets dismissed right there. And the session does not continue if even one of us has to leave before the session is supposed to end.
Sounds simple. But it is dangerous to the principles on which we have been functioning all these months. Each one for himself. But I was interested to see how the tide turns to Unity in spite of Diversity. Mind you, an emotional diversity. The one down with fever joins us for the class.
Ground rules set. Workshop starts. Photograph the stack of phones. Find the position you would place your camera. The fear of my cellphone falling off the table. 9 of them start moving all around. I keep standing where I am. No matter where I move, I am afraid of it falling. Everyone settles down, almost all of them on there knees, pretty close to the stack each one of them. Almost ready to catch it as it falls. We all take pictures of them prettily stacked. Half of those pictures seem alike. The first half ends.
The whole session, more than once, had broken into smaller conversations among us. Each trying to put forth ones understanding of the camera. The discussion comes down to the focal length of a lens. It has always been a question I have had found difficult to answer. I came up with several answers, reading up and listening to various people talk about it. And I take the focal length of a lens as the distance between the center of the lens and the sensor on which the image forms, when the object is very very far away. And as the object comes closer, the focusing system of the lens comes into play. This helps in forming the sharpest possible image on the sensor.
I am eager to see what he has to say about this....
Honest. Impressively honest. Cheers! :)
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