Seeking Guidance When Seeking Guidance, the Answers Must Always Come From Above.
FACES & RACES By Zubin Balaporia
The idea behind a great photograph is that it must tell a story. Technique and skill are secondary. First, one has to spot and capture a moment and that moment must “speak” to the viewer. Zubin iterated, “For me, interesting faces & races immediately tell a story.” By traveling around the world, he enjoys meeting, talking and photographing “real” people, those who are not famous or well known. They may not be high achievers or famous personalities, but through their faces, they display character and always have nicer and interesting stories to tell. So, it all started at the ripe old age of 45, when Zubin was on a trip in Germany with his friend, Subir Chatterjee, who is a brilliant photographer and professional film maker. While watching Subir photographing, it struck him as to how much his skill, technique and knowledge impacted his photography. This began to arouse a mild curiosity in Zubin and before long he was shooting wildly on an iPhone 4. Being an adventurous traveller, his next trip was a solo expedition to the Amazon. Then, he began to learn, read and study photography with a new Sony Rx-100 Mk II. Post the Amazon trip, he decided to get himself a better camera, therefore, he bought a Nikon D810 and a Nikkor 24-70mm lens. In 2016, he began to professionally print his photographs and the idea to do an exhibition was born. His first exhibition in 2018 was called “Blessed by the Light” and a few more have followed. This amazing series, titled “Faces and Races” is something Zubin wanted to do for quite a while. He added, “To document honest people in their natural surroundings and tell a story is all I want the observer to embrace. Hopefully through my photographs, the viewer will find himself or herself, teleported to the very places, faces and races that I have had the pleasure of visiting and photographing.” Zubin’s tryst with photography started very late in life. By profession he has and always will be a musician. But to him, music and photography are like two long lost siblings. Composing, arranging and producing good music is akin to composing and taking a great photograph. According to him, “Though music will always be my first passion – photography is becoming a very close second and these days I find myself working more on my photographs than my music.” 27 FEATURE
