My World, My Eyes

They say picture says a thousand words. Well, I think a picture can express in thousand ways more than anything.

It takes a lot to get the perfect shot and once it is there, it expresses the mood of the person behind the camera. Photography has always been very close to my heart, as the photographs perfectly summarize my emotions at the time and capture them in a frame. And, when children get into this equation, the expressions get candid.

At the Salaam Bombay Foundation, I got an opportunity to work with children and photograph them. The project was to create a bank of photographs for the calendar of 2017. These pictures were to be clicked by the children of the Salaam Bombay Media Academy. I trained these children for a day on the basics of photography and it was amazing to see how quickly they were able to grasp the concepts. Since we were running on a tight timeline, we had to finish this project in three days. I was skeptical at first, because this was my first time dealing with children and the camera together. But, by the end of the first day, I was confident of their potential; given the kind of practice pictures that came out. Since we were shooting photographs with children for a specific calendar, we wanted to have a theme. So, the second day we told the children to capture images of The Streets Where They Live In. When we looked at the photographs that the children captured during this exercise, it not only gave us a whole new perspective about a child’s capabilities, but also brought us close to the fact that creativity isn’t exclusive. I think the fact that the children were able to relate to theme added a level of comfort. For them, it was about introducing us to their world. Children always give their hundred percent in everything that they do and they don’t judge. For them, everything that they love is beautiful.

BTS of the SBF Calendar 2017 shoot. — BTS of the SBF calendar 2017 shoot.

The calendar included a small part of the images* that these children captured and in this blog I would like to share more of their work. Here’s a look at the photographs of their beautiful world:

"We accept cheques" — “We accept cheques”.

Imagine, what these children would achieve in future. Our Shutter “kids”!

*Image credits as follows:

1- Hanging lanterns- Aarti Swami, 14 years

2- A price for every pattern- Arti Swami, 14 years

3- Through the archway- Dhiraj Konduskar, 13 years

4- Into the alley- Dhiraj Konduskar, 13 years

5- Lead the way- Shashank Kadam, 14 years

6- A moment of peace- Suryakant Burkul, 13 years

7- Co-existence- Snehal Kamble, 14 years

8- Delicate yet strong- Suryakant Burkul, 13 years

9- Looking back- Shashank Kadam, 14 years

10- “We accept cheques”- Dhiraj Konduskar

11- The contrast- Shashank Kadam, 14 years

12- Defying gravity- Poonam Magdum, 13 years

13- A visit from above- Shashank Kadam, 14 years

Author

Sumedha Goswami

Sumedha feels that her experience as an AIF fellow will help her to understand first-hand how strategizing and creating development projects can bring about more clarity in her interest areas. Although she grew up in India, she feels that the diversity of the country is such that it never ceases to surprise people. She enjoys interacting with new people, travelling and photography. Her conscious choice of getting into the development sector of India has supported her to work for the causes she cares about the most. At Salaam Bombay Foundation, she feels dealing with kids will be both, interesting as well as challenging. Sumedha is looking at making significant contribution to the larger society in which she grew up. Prior to AIF, she has trained adolescent girls from an underprivileged community on video making and has experience in inter-personal as well as organizational communications.

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