Dhanya, Chinchu and Vineetha, three vivacious teenagers from Arinallur village had never touched a camera before. But now they had nothing less than a DSLR to toy with. Choyikutty mash, the veteran photographer to whom the camera belonged, sent them away with a wave of his hand: Go on! Shoot!
Part of a eight member team which participated in a photography workshop organised by SPACE, the girls went on to take some interesting shots of people and nature. Appreciation from Choyikutty mash brought a glow of pride into their shy faces.
During the workshop Choyikutty mash explained the basics o
f the camera.
He shared with the students some simple techniques involved in photography. Jithu and Ebin, amateur photographers, who had accompanied Choyikutty mash, showed them the different DSLR cameras they had, their lenses and how to use them. They demonstrated how pictures differ with different lenses.
A sense of apprehension ran through the group as the workshop prepared for practicals. But it slowly paved way for much gaiety and laughter as the first assignment involved taking portraits which required friends to model for each other. Some portraits came out perfect, while some others had blemishes, which Choyikutty mash quickly pointed out to the students was natural for first timers.
The afternoon session consisted of outdoor photography. Choyikutty mash explained to them the various aspects of landscape photography and motion photography. The students clicked pictures of the back waters and the neighbourhood coir factory and tried their hand at different lenses.
Following the workshop on 29 July 2012 the library decided to do a story on the local coir industry with the help of the trainees. The trainees will be involved in building the narrative and the images for the story during the next few weeks.
