There was a spontaneity in photo-journalist Homai Vayarawalla's work that required courage in the times she lived in, a noted photographer said on Sunday.
"I have been inspired by the nature of works. Such documentation does not happen today. There was a spontaneity about her work, which required courage those days," 78-year-old Nemai Ghosh, movie maestro Satyajit Ray's chronicler, photographer and friend said of Vayarawalla, who died in Vadodara on Sunday, three days after falling from her cot.
Reflecting on the tribulations and the risks that women photo-journalists had to face over the years, writer, curator and art critic Ina Puri said: "Photojournalism in the years leading to Indepedence and even later required all kinds of risk-taking. It could not have been an easy option for her to be committed to her vocation."
"It is because of personalities like Homai Vayarawalla that women have been inspired to take up professions like photo-journalism and journalism. Look at Barkha Dutt (of NDTV) now... it is difficult to report from and capture situations in remote areas of the country," Puri said.
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