8/10/09

Another way of telling

Yesterday, I found myself amidst quite a struggle. Perhaps this will sound selfish, perhaps altogether inane, but I'll share it with you nonetheless. 

In Blossom (the best book shop in Bangalore, or the world for that matter) yesterday, I was looking for a book on photography to give as a present. Not the usual "how to take good pictures" kind of stuff, but really "something more" without knowing what this "more" was. Well, I absolutely stumbled upon this book (nothing quite explains why I was drawn to something that didn't strike a chord at all, at first). As I walked myself through the first few pages, I found that this was it. It really was just the book I'd been looking for. Every page enthralled. I was in love. There was no question of "to buy or not to buy".

Yet, now the question was - "to keep or not to keep". I felt rather shameless reconsidering, and for the thought of getting another book for my friend (after all, I reasoned, how was I to know if she'd love this one just as much as I did.) The truth is, though, that it didn't matter. In a second, I realized that as soon as the decision was made - I'd always feel terrible if I kept it, and I'd always feel happier if I brought myself to part with it for good reason. Thence the doubt disappeared. Doubt is like that, isn't it? It just disappears.

Anyway, it is still a book I'd recommend highly to you all (I intend to buy it right away!)- if photography interests you, even as a faraway subject. It also encouraged me to document my own journey as a photographer a little better. There is such immense joy in discovering another go through the same questions as oneself.  Narcissists we are indeed!

This post was meant to be about a landmark on this journey, not so much about photo at a meta-level, but perhaps next time. Good night, all!

2 comments:

Gopal Singh said...

can u carry the book to jaisalmer or the name only?

pilgrimhawk said...

ah ...photography, must get back to my slr some day soon ... your blog surely did intensify the longing to get out and wander trying to freeze moments or rather better put, sculpt time and space :-)

Neha, i do sense a thoughtful photo journalist too in you ...why don't you start another blog - a photo journal blog.

...and here is what could be a contemplative initiation into it... the words of Ansel Adams:

" "When words become unclear,
I shall focus with photographs.
When images become inadequate,
I shall be content with silence...You don't make a photograph just with a camera,
you bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books
you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved."
(Ansel Adams)