Worth a 1000 words: Akshay Mahajan
Filed under: Creativity
Enterprise Part Deux :: by Akshay Mahajan
What we are seeing are not pictures, they are a view of an artist who just happens to use a camera to record moments that 99% of us don’t see. His talent is up there with the best.
– Oldweston
– from the testimonials on Akshay’s flickr profile
In this edition of “Worth a 1000 words”, I feature Akshay Mahajan, a young talented photographer from Mumbai, India. A photographer apart, his vibrant images not only captures the beauty within India, its people, and its way of life; but also opens our eyes and mind to the splendor in things once thought unattractive and uninteresting.
A journey through his collection of images on flickr is one worth taking, and one which inspires. Also take a look at the photo essays on his blog, Trivial Matters; which provides vivid and insightful information about his travels and images.
Akshay, has been kind enough to answer a few questions I posed to him for this post, giving us an opportunity to learn more about him, his work, and his ways:
KD: How did you get into photography?
AKSHAY: All of my life I have been caught in places I don’t belong. As a child I would dive into the furthest reaches of the family photo album to see what ancient photographs that had been taken, categorized, plastered, passed down and then forgotten. I decided to use this lifelong handicap and convert it into photography. Wielding a camera at last I had a license to explore the many wonderful, forgotten corners of the landscape and people’s lives and life around me. There is so much beauty in the overlooked details of our world.
KD: When you take a picture, what goes through your mind?
AKSHAY: People say photography is about capturing a moment and freezing it forever in a block of ice. I find it is not about capturing the moment less and more about realizing how that split moment has changed you. I’m always looking for ways for a subject that changes me into something / somebody else. “What will change me next” is what I’m thinking.
KD: What are your preferred equipments and lenses?
AKSHAY: I started off with a S45 Canon Powershot and 64mb card and I moved my way up to a D70S with a 4 GB card. I have two lenses in my a kit a Nikkor 18-70mm lens and a 28- 200mm lens.
KD: What are some of your favorite places and things to photograph?
AKSHAY: I call Mumbai home and in ways Mumbai is my favourite place to photograph. There are so many shades hidden in her folds. There is always something hidden tucked away just around the corner.
KD: From all your photographs, which one touches you the most?
AKSHAY: This one, for it took me 3 days of interaction to get it.
KD: Any advice for others who want to get into photography, and get good at it?
AKSHAY: The myth about photography is that you need to have an eye for it. The truth is that you need to develop an eye for it. There is only one way of doing that and that is going out and shooting. Writing and structuring you photographs helps – let your photographs tell stories. Media like Blogs and Flickr also help in getting feedback
KD: Has flickr made a difference? If yes, then how?
AKSHAY: What do all photographers want amateur or otherwise? They all want there photographs to be seen. Flickr does just that and therefore has made a tremendous difference. What good will all my photographs do if I would just put them up on the walls of my room.
10 Comments
DesiPundit » Archiv&hellip
Aug 28, 2006 | 11:04 am
[…] KarmaDude talks to the blogosphere’s favorite photographer, Akshay Mahajan. Akshay has been regularly featured on DesiPundit and currently adminsters the DesiPundit Flickr group. […]
Amit
Aug 30, 2006 | 7:17 am
Some amazing photography there! 🙂
Ritesh
Nov 5, 2007 | 1:30 pm
all balltalk…thats what this is…if thats photography…then lord help us…
KarmaDude
Nov 11, 2007 | 4:59 pm
@Ritesh, if you could provide your insight into photography, it might help us understand why you feel the way you do about Akshay’s photographs.
Now, I noticed that you work for Hindustan Times, so are there any personal conflicts which could explain the animosity towards Akshay’s photos?
Ritesh
Jun 3, 2008 | 11:09 pm
sorry abt the late reply…no personal animosity ever, if ppl wanna buy mediocre stuff, let em buy it, good for him…i just feel that images are way too cliched, relying heavily on toning than moments…things that have been done by the masters years back…there are so many great photogs in this country who go unnoticed…or lemme say photojournalists…young fellas, with fresh eyes…kunal patil , who works in our organization, he’s matured to a fine journalist in no time, but u may never come to know abt him, coz his only draw back is that isnt net savvy and i have never seen him brag or yell out loud to ppl abt how great he is…i see nothing special in akshay’s work, it’s all depthless, straight, flat, momentless and boring if may say so…but thats maybe coz i dont see it as an ordinary viewer…hell i dont even look at my own work, coz i can always find kilos of flaws in it! he has a couple of good images tho, of some girl carrying some flowers in the water, and there are a few other more, but i doubt i wud say they are all highly original and fresh.
Akshay
Jun 4, 2008 | 2:47 am
Ritesh, I never claimed to fresh or original. To be honest, I’m far from. I’m just starting out, I have not been doing this for very long.
mira
Jun 4, 2008 | 6:47 am
Ritesh,
you sound like a jealous guy……. some problem obv with yourself ……
kaushik ramaswamy
Jun 6, 2008 | 2:02 am
this mr uttamchandani began working under a capable photo editor soumitra ghosh, who in my mind is the one responsible for how the bombay ht looked when it launched.he was was also responsible for creating the team of photographers who gave the paper the fresh look.i have closely monitored the ht bombay paper for long and the guys who launched it worked with me in the delhi ht from 1996.mr uttamchandani in my mind is a fine photographer and so is akshay mahajan, who know works in my team in the Indian express bangalore. all i would like to say in this matter is that professional photographers in this world are primarily adults and it is stupid and child like to behave or comment the way mr uttamchandani has about mahajans work.his is not a critique but it just seems like fear. there is nothing to fear mr ritesh.every photographer has his way of functioning and “behaving”.you have yours and akshay has his.i could list half a dozen photographer in bombay and outside who would like
Ritesh
Jun 9, 2008 | 1:55 pm
okay okay…i was wrong…i was rude…and i eat my words…and its not fear…maybe i phrased my opinion in a really really wrong way…or maybe my opinion was simply hollow…or maybe i was being plain bitchy…sincerest apologies to akshay…and everyone else who is offended by my comments…
chamki
Jun 19, 2008 | 8:30 am
To stumble upon this piece of information and the hilarious conversation is extremely entertaining I must say.