Composition in Photography is a Political Decision

Bangalore. October, 2013

I’d like to share an important point with respect to composition in photography. This is from the learning and real life experiences, that I have had as a photojournalist and as a Visual Story-teller.

Stereotyping of Muslims in Indian media

A Screenshot of DeccanChronicle.com article on Bangalore Police being on a high alert over suspicion of terrorists presence in the city. The photograph used in connection with the story is of a random muslim man being questioned by police.

Indian mainstream media today plays to the gallery of stereotypes. And one of the thriving stereotypes is “islamophobia” or stereotyping of Muslims as terrorists. One of the examples is an article recently published online by Deccan Chronicle.

Bangalore Pride March 2011

The 4th annual Bangalore Pride March was held in Bangalore city on Sunday, 27th November 2011. The march was held from Thulasi park to City Town hall and saw huge participation from members of various sexual orientations. This year the march was held as part of Bangalore Pride and Karnataka Sexual Minorities Rights festival, which… Continue reading Bangalore Pride March 2011

The story behind my Embedded Eyes

Indian migrant Guddu Gupta at his shared accommodation in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Guddu hails from Ghorakpur town of India and works as a salesman in Cambodia. 2008. Photo: Nishant Ratnakar

My article on ‘Embedded journalism in documentary photography,’ that appeared in Un(T)ravel, the April-July 2011 edition of Offbeat, The Alternative’s quarterly ezine celebrating alternative living.

Making of a Documentary Photography Project

A mobile phone photograph of a young couple during a pre-wedding portrait shoot done at Ateneo De Manila University campus, while we were defending our final projects in front of 3-member panel. May 2011, Manila, Philippines. © Nishant Ratnakar

An online discussion and Q&A session with photojournalism students from my Alma Mater, ACFJ at Ateneo de manila University, Philippines. Spoke to them on how I worked on my long-term documentary photography project, Fistful of Dreams.

Don’t leave me now

As a photojournalist, one of the most challenging beats to work on is the crime beat. It is a beat of extremes. I end up doing work that emotionally drains me out to something that is very mundane. Covering suicides drains me the most. Personally, there is a larger purpose in covering suicides…

Few frames behind the lens

As an assignment for my Advanced News Photography class held during my Diploma in Photojournalism scholarship program I did an audio slideshow featuring my photographer colleague K Anantha Subramanyam at his home and at work.

A classroom experiment on Soundslides

Multimedia, audio, video… seems to be/is the emerging mantra for photojournalists. Convergence of different mediums have created a whole new world of opportunities for visual story-telling. Also, from this year World Press Photo has instituted a new contest to recognize multimedia photojournalism. Multimedia is here to stay. This multimedia slideshow was produced by me as… Continue reading A classroom experiment on Soundslides