Making a difference where it matters

This is a happy story. A young engineer-turned-MBA-turned-photographer from Delhi arrives in the city to celebrate his birthday. He chooses to spend the day making new friends at an Association for People with Disability (APD) centre, gets bowled over by their enthusiasm, and offers to “peddle the only skill I own” — the proposal meets more enthusiastic ayes and thus is born — Happy Camera Club.

Siddharth Jain, the man behind the idea, explains the vision: “Happy Camera Club is an initiative spawned by a thought to make constructive use of time by arming the less privileged with photography skills which they can use to better their lives.” The idea sprung quite impulsively, but it required much planning and organising. It helped that Siddharth was sort of in between fulltime jobs, and had time enough to implement his idea. He spoke to the director of APD, who backed the plan and also offered to house the workshop at the APD centre on Hutchins Road.

Ten students — the youngest is 16 years old, and the oldest, 50 — signed up for the workshop which began on March 19. Initially, the lessons were scheduled on Saturdays and Sundays, and students were given daily assignments to be done through the week. After the third week, Siddharth conducted the classes on weekdays as well. “Early mornings — as early as 6 am! And evenings too,” Mary Prasanna, a Happy Camera Club student, says. She is also a graphic designing trainer at APD.

The workshop had a tight budget constraint being self-funded. “Resources were scant. So it requires some management skills to organise,” Siddharth says on how they shared three cameras between ten students. “They took turns and kept a roster on who will use the camera that day. And the students were very careful with it.” They made several trips to Russell market, Lalbagh and other places in the city, trying out street photography till they were sure of their skills. After every assignment, Siddharth would strictly go through the images clicked, carefully pick out the best by each student, and then help them edit. “Many of the images were rather refreshing. In the course of three weeks, I knew who were keen on photography, and who would make productive use of skills gained. Soon my friends pitched in with more cameras.” Workshop had theory lessons, field trips, movie screenings, discussions based on books on photography.

“We had a t-shirt exercise one day. Each of us was given a white t-shirt and colours. We could paint whatever we liked on it. Some of us painted a camera, a portrait, and also wrote ‘Happy Camera Club’ in bold letters,” says Kurt Burke, the oldest student of the group, who also teaches art at the APD centre. It wasn’t just the students who learnt from the workshop.

Siddharth too brought back tremendous learning, he says. “For starters, I have become a lot more patient,” he quips. The commitment shown by the students towards acquiring the skills, their positive approach to life and their confidence was surprising, he says. “It isn’t easy to hold a camera and step on to streets to capture life there. But my students are brave. And they became even more courageous with a camera in hand,” he says.

“I used to be scared initially, but soon learnt how to hold the camera without any fear. Now, after the workshop, I plan to work as a part-time photographer,” says Dinesh. He is also studying a mechanical course at APD, along with BCom in correspondence. He says his friends at the workshop — Anand and Jagadeesh, both hearing and speech disabled — delight in the classes and enjoy wielding a camera. Some want to work as studio photographers in future.

For Nagaraj, his interest in photography was sparked during a trip to Madhya Pradesh a few years ago. He had gone for a jungle safari, and had a camera with him. He loved the images, and wanted to learn photography since then. So when the initiative came to APD, he urged others to sign up as well. “My dream is to be a wildlife photographer. Many are sceptical about it as I am on a wheelchair, but I want to give it a try,” he says. Some like Kurt Burke signed up as the workshop was free of cost, but soon loved it. Kurt, now, plans to approach the pastor at his church for an opportunity to be the official photographer of the events held there.

Buoyed by the success of the first workshop, Siddharth has found many takers for the Happy camera club who want to pitch in and help take the initiative to other cities. He is planning to take it next to Delhi, Ladakh and Chattisgarh. “It takes a lot more commitment than just another photography workshop would require. We aren’t looking at simply teaching photography, but would be mentoring these students who are keen to learn and make use of the skills,” Siddharth says.

This Saturday, May 21, Happy Camera Club would be holding its first exhibition at the APD centre on Hutchins Road. The best photographs would be on display and a few movies made by the students would be screened. Prints of the images and posters would be for sale. The proceeds of it would go to the photographers and a portion of it would go the club so that it could fund its next workshop.

You can follow Happy Camera Club on Facebook or at happycameraclub.wordpress.com. For further details, write to
happycameraclub@hotmail.com