Mind over matter

Top three photography trends—mostly relating to technology—which are worth highlighting include the iPad, point-and-shoot-size DSLRs and high dynamic range photography. I would like to elaborate on these three trends before I get into the most important trend, which has brought a very big and revolutionary change in the genre of documentary photography.

The Apple iPad: Enter any cafe in any Indian city or abroad and what do you spot? People doodling on a iPad, a glorified iPhone with a few more apps. Well, it is gaining steam and there isn’t an excuse for not having one.

Point-and-shoot-size DSLRs: Carrying a heavy DSLR with huge lenses and accessories is simply backbreaking! Folks, things are getting simpler, smaller and much lighter, with full DSLR capability at a low price (with a good glass), and a whole new class of digital cameras.

High dynamic range (HDR) photography
It looks like HDR is going to have a place in our work flow. HDR is actually a simple concept, but somewhat tricky (until now) to implement for digital images.

I feel that photography, specially documentary photography has gone though a revolutionary change. The eye behind the camera used to be the most important quality; photographers were expected to see more than others. People used to appreciate or were in awe of the photographers’ exceptional eyes to capture stunning visuals out of nowhere. But the recent trend is the supremacy of the ‘MIND’ behind the camera; the interpretation, understanding of a situation rather than a scene and it’s style of expression is being given great thought.