Photography mania
There are innumerable examples of vices and bad
habits ruining peoples’ lives. But I’m
warning you! If you do not have plenty of money, do not take any hobby
seriously, especially photography. Yes,
seriously! It is one of the ‘money
stripping’ hobbies. You may wonder how
saving pictures in a computer taken by a small cheap digital camera could do
such harm. Yes, if you limit yourself to
that, it will never harm you. But there
is a dangerous photographymania called GAS (Gadget Acquiring Syndrome) that is
found to affect some people who started photography as a hobby and after getting
infected by GAS wanted to become professionals. Very few of the GAS infected persons become
professionals and all the rest get ruined.
Things just do not end here.
I can take reasonably good pictures and
honestly I don’t make false claims that I am as good as Ansell Adams. I started it as a hobby and later realized
that many professional photographers make a lot of money. The desire for profit drove me to follow a
profession for which I neither had the ability nor the money. I collected tons and tons of information on
cameras, accessories, photography, Photoshop, how to sell your pictures and
even the biographies and success stories of many famous photographers. However, none of these resources mentioned,
even in passing, that, if you are not filthy rich, before you become a professional
photographer you will have to break your bank or have to choose the noose!
I had an entry-level DSLR, a micro three forth
and an old ‘aim and shoot film camera’.
When I bought the DSLR, I stored the rest away. Now I had to buy some
accessories for the DSLR: two lenses, a camera flash, filters, batteries,
camera cards, tripods, a monopod, two camera bags and many more! These accessories must have cost me dearly
but I did not realize it as they were not bought all at the same time.
I knew that costlier cameras or gadgets are not
needed for taking good pictures as the skill of the photographer is what
decides their quality. Still, I wanted
to upgrade my camera to a professional ‘full frame’one. I borrowed money and bought one. All the accessories of the entry level
camera were not suitable for the full frame camera and to buy those accessories
I again had to borrow money.
Very soon I realized that the pictures I shot
with the new camera had not turned out to be better than those shot with my
entry level DSLR. During this time I
got a chance to exhibit my photos in the small town next to our village. I took part in it and many viewers
appreciated the pictures I shot with my entry level DSLR more than those shot
with my new full frame. It was for the
first time I felt that I had done the mistake of investing a lot of borrowed
money in a new camera which was not needed.
I felt terribly guilty as I committed this mistake knowing well in
advance this could happen.
In this exhibition I met a professional
photographer and we became friends. He
said he would sell his pictures online by registering with some reputed online
buyers. I shared with him the fact that
I too had registered with some of them but wasn’t able to sell even a single
picture. He gave me a long speech on
the techniques needed in order to sell pictures online. The one he felt I had to do was to change my
name.
“Do you mean that I should change my name? In what way does my name block the sale of my
pictures”? I was curious.
“Yes. Your name blocks the sale of your
pictures.” He laughed and continued. “I
am sorry but I have to tell you the truth – your name sounds very rustic and
old. Your offer is viewed by people all
over the world. Therefore, your name
must appear ‘global’ and not ‘local’.
Sometimes, people buy pictures for the title of the photograph and not
for the quality of the photograph! You
could seek the help of a professional copy-writer to give the ‘punchy’ titles
for your pictures.”
I was totally puzzled! I had never known online marketing involved this much of delicate secrets. I cancelled all my previous registrations
and opened new registrations adopting a name with an ‘international
punch’! I got my pictures titles
renamed by a copy-writer who charged me three times more than what I expected
he would. This made me cut my weekend
outings and eating outs. I hadn’t had a
new set of clothes in two years and the money I had saved planning to buy some
had to be used to pay that guy. I was
sad, but hoped that people would fall for my pictures and money would flow into
my bank account.
My hope just remained a hope! Yes I could sell barely two pictures which
only brought $7 to my account! I was
desperate; I was on the verge of bankruptcy.
I rushed to the studio of my professional photographer friend. (Yes, he owned a studio and hope he still
owns it.) He listened to me carefully
and after a prolonged thought murmured seriously:
“Uh… Mm… Now the reason for your not being able
to sell your pictures is clear to me… After getting a new name you were able to
sell two pictures. What you require at this stage is a corporate address.”
“Are you serious?! A corporate address for me?! I don’t even have a rented 10 x 10 ft. shop
room to run a business.” I cried.
My friend laughed.
“Ha! Ha! Ha!
If you trace the path of many of the big corporate businesses, you will
find that their beginnings were from small shop rooms. Go home, find a small room for your new
studio, equip it with all latest photographic studio equipment, hang a colourful
sign board in front. Publish on all
social media about your venture, with colourful pictures and mind-gripping
write ups.”
“The idea seems fine but wouldn’t the cost a
lot of money to start the new venture? I was sceptic.
“Yes, of course. If you want, you can just
remain a hobbyist. But if you want to become a big professional photographer
you need to know the secrets of the trade.
Mastering the trade just does not come for free. Just imagine the
quantity of money you are going to make once you become an acknowledge
photographer like me.”
While returning home, I was thinking of the
prospects of establishing my studio.
Very often we try to be modest and do not ask
some questions before we start a new venture –which for others may look
immodest but which totally changes our future.
My fate would not have worsened if I had the indecency to ask my friend
two questions. Question number one: How many pictures he sold in the exhibition
. Question number two: How many pictures he had sold online. I should not have been so naïve as to
believe the words of a person who said he had projected his studio online as
his corporate office, when it was no better than a local barber shop.
I would have felt still more comfortable if I
had enough money on reserve. I had
practically no money at hand and opening a small photo studio with digital
equipment required a minimum of three hundred thousand rupees. I had already borrowed a large sum of money
from the bank promising that I would start my repayments soon but sadly, I was
not able to deposit just one Rupee as repayment.I would promptly have repaid to
the bank if I were able to sell my pictures, and the bank also knows it but
technically I was just a ‘wilful defaulter’
trying to cheat the bank.
Money will not drop from the sky, but I was
badly in need of money. So, I decided to meet the manager personally,
and convince him of my new venture which would eventually pour money into my
account.
I stepped into the manager’s office with a
smart glee and a warm wish. The manager
just raised his eyes from a file in which he was buried. I did not give him time to think. I placed
the thick file containing my project and my request letter (third time
–I think!) for the advance of three hundred thousand rupees.
“Is it again a ‘Photo Mania’ project of earning money through
photography? Our bank cannot
finance any such crazy projects.”
The manager lookednas if he wanted to push me out of his office. He
didn’t just stop there but continued, “You already owe the bank two hundred
thousand rupees plus interest. You
haven’t paid anything towards the interest-not to mention the capital. You must settle it as soon as possible”.
“Sir.Ramakrishna Seith, one of the richest industrialist
in India, was also given the same answer by his bank manger when he requested a
finance of twenty five thousand rupees to start his first small-scale industry.
Then, Ramakrishna Seith sold his car to raise money for his project.”
The manager smiled and said, mockingly:
“Do you mean to say that you will also become a
rich man if I sanction you this money?
Then you also sell your motorbike to fund your project”.
That was the end. While I was sadly walking out, the manager
said a bit loudly:
“When you become rich, you don’t need to
deposit your money with us.”
Now I had abandoned the idea of starting a sole
proprietorship company. I was in search
of a financial partner who would be ready to invest three hundred thousand rupees
in my project.
“Your project sounds great!
But now I don’t have enough money to invest on it. Sorry.”
All my hopes came to
an end. I felt devastated, like one
abandoned in the middle of a desert. What tormented me more was the realization I
had wasted a good part of my best lifetime trying to establish my career as a
professional photographer only to end up as a failure in life.
When I am mentally troubled I usually go to the forest in
the Western Ghats. I go deep into the
forest, sit on a rock and watch the panoramic view of the great Palakkad Gap for
hours, forgetting all about the ‘civilized world’.
Yes, now I am sitting on my favourite rock in the forest. The wind is howling through the Palakkad Gap
as if scolding me for being indecisive even after having come to know that my
project is never going to take shape. I am afraid if I don’t take a decision now; my remaining
life will be spent in utter penury!
I have decided to
abandon the project. I have erased it out of my mind. I am a certified truck driver, and I
don’t think it would take much time before I get the job of a truck driver. I am not going to starve. Every month I will save some money from my
salary and pay my dues to the bank.
What about photography, then? I will list all my camera
products online and most of them could be sold out in a short while. I may not be using any camera but, using my
eyes I will take pictures and store them
in my mind!
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