Discovering talent behind the lens for 27 years

If Pune is to be called a photographers’ paradise, then there is one institute that deserves the tag of ‘factory of photographers’ — Fergusson College’s department of photography.

The institute, which has been instrumental in producing a new crop of photographers every year, is still going strong after 27 years of its inception.

The institute was started in 1983 by senior photographer WN Bhat and Sharad Apte, a professor at the physics department of Fergusson College. Initially, the batch had 25 students, which grew to 50 in 94-95 and today, the 28th batch has 90 students, pursuing the one-year certificate course.

“The institute was started with two objectives — one was to make photography available to the public by facilitating them with studios and other equipment. Second was to make photography a vocation,” says head of the department, Rajendra Mahamuni.

Unlike many other institutes, the department adapted to changing technology. It started with black and white photography, while colour photography was introduced in 95-96.

The institute saw a major change in technology in 2007, when it went digital.

But the head of the department feels that digital is easy to shoot and to get good results, one must know the basics of photography as the fundamentals remain the same, irrespective of the recording medium.

He feels, digital cameras are not a substitute to the knowledge of photography.

“People have an impression that they can click pictures by just pressing a button, but it is not that simple. You need to know the lighting conditions, framing, composition and many more aspects before clicking a picture,” he says.