Deepro Biswas
Kolkata,
India
Deepro Biswas is from Kolkata, India with a masters degree in Media Sciences. Currently he is trying to explore different genres of photography as a means to experiment new things and get out of his comfort zone.
What is photography to you?
Photography is 'Light in Life '. A photograph cannot exist without light, so as my life.
This medium has transformed an introvert person to a person communicating with the world, expressing himself through his photographs. This process of making visual diaries has transformed into a means of therapy in my darkest of times.
How did you get started in Photography?
From childhood, I was not very much interested in photography like others. Only during Durga Puja, I used to capture photographs of different Durga Maa idols while roaming around different pandals. Later on, when I was in Class 12, Bored with the pressure to crack medical entrance examinations , I started to visit and explore different places of Kolkata as a means of passing time.
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One early morning, while roaming around some streets and ghats of North Calcutta I realised there are so many stories to tell. I started taking photographs with my smartphone back in late 2017 Slowly this process turned into an addiction for me. I used to bunk my tuition class even then to take photographs and document various festivals happening around as telling in home that I am outside for making photographs was not allowed then. I was gifted a camera by my parents one year. My constant love for making photographs through my smartphone for one year made them realise of gifting me a stronger tool.
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I can easily call myself as an "accidental photographer".
What impact do you think your childhood has on your photography?
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I think my exposure to paintings from my early childhood later had a great influence and huge impact when I started to seriously practice this discipline of visual storytelling.
Please tell us about your process and vision.​
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I think our works are results and portrayals of how we are as a person, what are the type of people we meet and mix with , the books we read, the music we listen to, summing up in all together what we consume
My works are the responses to situations I go through in my personal life.
I try to find extraordinary in mundane things around me and to tell and document stories in a very simple way.Honestly it is a continuous evolving process.
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Earlier I used to shoot daily, now I prefer to shoot less and spent more time reading about photographs and other forms of art to incorporate those in my works. This process has led me to continuously think of what we see, why we see and how we see.
What challenges do you face as an artist?
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To constantly observing stories around, differently, creating different works and developing your work into different branches and dimensions day by day are the toughest things for an artist. Second thing definitely is coming from a middle class family and choosing your passion as your profession. Sustaining in life as an artist in India is not impossible but tough.
How do you overcome periods of low motivation or creative ruts?
Honestly, I don't see these phases as very tough phases in my life. I see this period as an experience.
Periods of low motivations, creative blockages are part of every artists in this world. I stop making photographs at that time, take a small break and immerse myself in seeing works of other artists of different art forms , read books, listen to different types of music , by immersing in these forms you again start to think and experiment and your period of low motivations slowly ends there.
Going through the phase, the only promise I make to myself is to try hard to bounce back and develop my own way of seeing more and more
What inspires you the most?
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Seeing artists around me creating works of sheer brilliance, works as a constant inspiration. Makes me think always if they are human and doing it, I can also do.
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Fortunately artists and people I met in my life continuously shapes my style of work, spending time and having conversations with them inspires you more about their works.
The most important point , To my elder sister I am the best photographer in this whole world. To match up to her expectations and love inspires me continuously to create more unique and good works. I must mention this, she is the constant source of inspiration as a person and the strongest pillar and support for me behind making photographs. These supports makes you go through in life effortlessly.
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"Dear Didi, I hope you are proud while reading through this conversation."
What gears do you generally use? What is your ideal piece of gear and why?
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I use Canon 750d , a very basic camera which I bought five to six years before when I started my journey.
For taking photographs with mobile, OnePlus 11 is my new friend now from few months.These are my pens to write visual diaries.
Yes, gears definitely matters in certain situations, that's why there are different gears.
My ideal piece of gear is definitely what I have now currently. They may not be the best in the market , but can definitely help me to develop into the better version of myself.
I think at the end , Vision Is the most important and expensive gear a photographer and an artist can have.
Tell us about a photo you’re proud of.
I don't think untill now I am proud of any photograph I made. Still I am proud of one incident very recently behind making some of my favourite photographs this year in Mumbai. Witnessing Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in Mumbai always has been among the bucket list for me. Tickets were booked before several months, suddenly when almost two weeks were left for the trip to begin, I was diagnosed with severe Dengue and had to be admitted. Every day I was thinking can I make it to witness and capture my dreams. After four to five days of my discharge from Hospital I decided to witness my dream , and I ended up shooting this photograph of Lord Ganesha Immersion by standing in the water for hours.
During period of low motivations I would always tell this story to myself.
How would you define photographic success?
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Success is a very subjective thing. Continuing creating works is the first step of success.
One thing I must say for aspiring photographers being obsessed with likes and followers in social media is absolutely not one. A successful photograph to me is a spoken thing which speaks to myself, like I am talking to myself or someone with that photograph. It must resonate and relate to myself first, others can relate to it and figure out later only I want to see and make every photograph which I can hung on my wall later on as a part of personal gallery. My storage should be an exhibition for me.
"If I can love a photograph, connect with the photograph and say to myself I can never create any similar work like this, that is a photographic success to me "
That means much more to me rather than awards , recognitions.
Also an artist must continue to evolve. He or she must not be happy with a successful photograph, we must continue to sculpt new ideas from our head, challenge ourselves and our own works and think of create something new.
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New things only arises only when old things diminishes.
What do you think the future of photography is?
I am happy to write this medium is constantly evolving with new photographers , artists with the continuous help of digital technologies.
The process of making and accessing photographs for everyone is becoming easy day by day.
With new styles of storytelling developing slowly around , photography is changing for good. The advent of AI now , is helping to evolve this medium into alternative mediums of image making. Just it raises serious concerns about the authenticity of images that we see and consume.
I feel more happy and will always be more happy to see people around me creating much more beautiful works than me.
Image copyrights © Deepro Biswas