Better Photography - June 2020

In this issue

Inspirations and images Life Under Lockdown Quotes, readings, interpretations, and remote portraits that define the times; FEATURIN G WORKS BY Zahra Amiruddin, Aashim Tyagi, Paroma Mukherjee, Nick Fancher, Nupur Kulkarni, Janhavi Sharma, Sephi Bergerson, Shaheen Peer, Farheen Fatima, Philippe Calia, Ashima Raizada, Jackie Russo, Suresh Naganathan, Binaifer Bharucha, Raghav Pasricha, Aditya Nair, Soumya Sankar Bose; Pulitzer Prize: Hong Kong's Batt le for Survival; Yogendra Joshi's Otherworldly Macros and much more...

Unlikely Medleys

While in conversation with Aditya Nair, Conchita Fernandes discovers the qualities that instigate a sense of confoundment with his photographs.

5 mins

Words and the Impressions They Leave

Rudyard Kipling once said, “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” When words come into the world—written or spoken—they begin to work their magic. They shape our views of history and culture. They affect our decisions, influence behaviour and evoke emotions. They ignite our imagination and provoke thoughts. There might have been times when you heard a piece of advice from someone or read a quote in a book, or perhaps, come across a heartwarming lyric that changed or altered your perception. And before you realise it, each word, each phrase, each stanza, gradually slips into your life and becomes a part of you.

10+ mins

CONNECTING REMOTELY

Haruki Murakami, whose books are replete with thoughts on the human condition, said, “A person’s life may be a lonely thing by nature, but it is not isolated. To that life other lives are linked.” If the lockdown has taught us anything, it is the significance of human interaction in the workings of our daily lives. It is not just our core group—family and friends—but the stimuli that we receive from being surrounded by people, whether in an office space or taking a walk down the road.Video calling apps and software have always been around, but has now been conferred a new symbolic role. The phone or laptop screen stand in as modern edifices that provide entryways to known and unknown places.In this issue of Better Photography, Conchita Fernandes speaks with six photographers—Zahra Amiruddin, Farheen Fatima, Aashim Tyagi, Jackie Russo, Sephi Bergerson and Nick Fancher—whose images center around distance, longing, anxiety, the inclusion of technology and twisting reality, while they photograph strangers and familiar faces.

10+ mins

Crystalline Gardens

Yogendra Joshi finds great joy in sharing all that he learns. Here, he speaks to us about his experiments with photographing crystals through polarised light.

3 mins

Hong Kong's Cry for Freedom

This year, an eleven-member team of photojournalists from Reuters won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. Two of them are from India—Adnan Abidi and Anushree Fadnavis. Nilofer Khan speaks to the duo, and writes about the uprising in Hong Kong.

5 mins

Peary vs Cook: Who Reached The North Pole First?

Very few discoveries in the world have been as passionately debated upon for a century as the first expedition to the North Pole. In 1909, two American explorers—Robert Edwin Peary Sr., United States Navy officer, and Frederick Albert Cook, physician and ethnographer—emerged from the Arctic, a few days apart.

1 min

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Better Photography Magazine Description:

Better Photography is one of South Asia’s most respected photography guides and is India’s No.1 photography magazine. It is the first Indian magazine to be completely devoted to the art and science of photography. Catering primarily to amateurs, hobbyists, and serious enthusiasts, the magazine has a keen following amongst professionals as well. It delves into product tests, provides expert advice, tutorials and techniques, and conducts some of India’s most prominent photography contests.