Every click brings a thousand words
Arnold Newman, the American photographer who has created a niche for himself on ‘environmental portraits of artists and politicians’ described the art succinctly.
“A lot of photographers think that if they buy a better camera, they will be able to take better photographs. A better camera will not do a thing for you if you do not have anything in your head or in your heart,” he said.
In a world that is increasingly becoming ‘selfies’ (curiously it rhymes with ‘selfish’), photographers such as Ashok Kochhar stand light years apart. It is in fact calling him a photographer would be a derogatory remark. He is a creative artist par excellence, with an eye for the unusual and a lens for the unclicked. He makes his subjects speak- it is not necessary that they should be humans, animals or birds. Even a leaf gets to convey a message. Many of these are a part of his ever-widening reservoir of talent and even imagination.
Unique Journey
Mr Kochhar is a lensman of a million or more pictures taken perhaps on as many occasions, covering the world in a frame. Now a resident of New Zealand, he will shortly embark on a unique journey of the country, capturing its flora, fauna, mountains, rivers and most importantly, sea of people in their vicissitudes.
The journey would be his new project covering 500 or more days.
He inspired us to open up Indian Newslink to better photography, introducing people and places, some of who may not have been seen before- at least not from his angle.
Different Approach
We take a different approach in this issue, designating Ashok Kochhar as the ‘Photographer of the Fortnight’ as seen by his international models.
He is a master who says that he practices ‘The Spiritual Art of Photography.’
In that spirit, he says:
I sit not with holy men upon hill tops
I talk not of wisdom and its roads
I please not my God and my religion
I am a wanderer in search of my own
Ashok Kochhar can be reached on 022-6467496 Email: kochhara55@gmail.com
-Venkat Raman
