Point. Zoom. Click.

Technically, I should be using this time to study for my photography exam. It’s being held so early tomorrow morning that I’ll probably have to coax the sun to rise so that I can grope my way to the nearest bus stop and land up at college on time. This is the reason why I must dust my dying driving license and well, use my sense and drive. That accounts for a whole new post anyway, so let me just get to the point, zoom and click.

Remember Chewing Gum, Exam and Friends? Well, my photography class had a somewhat similar beginning. I am not trying to become an ‘accomplished’ woman of the Austen times by trying out theatre, photography etc. This class was compulsory and if not for this, I’d be still content with my four eyes and camera-phone to capture images (I recently discovered that I do in fact own a digital camera, but happy events have stopped occurring in life, so there is nothing to capture in it.)

We began class a month ago. Our sir likes to give the sun an inferiority complex by rising earlier. In an effort to impress him, most of us tried reaching on time but in the process ended up looking like doped kids picked up from the corner of some random alley. The theory classes were fun, sitting under a huge tree in college. In fact, my first ever picture (during the class, that is) was of that tree. When I see the outcome, it just looks like a mass of spangled leaves with sunshine peeking through, but anyway, it’s the thought behind the image that counts. :P

We progressed from college to Loafer’s Lane and then moved on to explore the world yonder. In the past few weeks, we’ve been to Pottery Town, Dhobi Ghat, MG Road promenade (or what’s left of it) and Russel Market.
Pottery town was our first excursion with the camera, so we considered ourselves to be these crime-scene photographers as we trudged along the muddy (well, it rains everyday and this is pottery town, so there’s nothing else but mud) lanes with the SLRs, capturing the most bizarre moments and claiming them to be masterpieces.
Dhobi ghat was especially interesting as we saw over 50 men and women washing clothes continuously, almost in a rhythm. The swishing of clothes in the wind and the mixing of hues in that space of land was a photographer’s paradise, with the donkey and everything.
Russell market was, well, crowded. Even as early as 7.45 in the morning. Of course, we had to choose the eve of St.Mary’s Feast to shoot pictures around the Basilica of St.Mary. We explored Shivajinagar and got lost in the by-lanes that led to these alleys of auto-repair shops. We stalked random people who looked like ‘intriguing subjects’. We also tried capturing a Policeman, but he gave us such a look of disdain that we meekly scampered away.
MG Road was dirty. Well, we went to the promenade side, which has been ravaged by huge metal rods and garbage. What was once a walkway filled with bougainvillea blossoms is now a garbage dump with weeds and thousands of fountain Pepsi glasses. Looks like someone had a party and forgot to clean up, a century ago. We tried our hand at panning and painting with light (if you don’t know what this means then I’ve achieved my ultimate goal of photography class- befuddling people with technical and impressive jargons!) A couple of rats, hawks and red ants came up and watched us in action. I swear I saw a snake and some maggots as well, but my friends shooed away that observation, claiming it to be false. They were just trying to reassure themselves. I did see those creatures. In the history of our photography class, the sun finally beat us. It set before we finished, and we were left with specks of orangey-blue dotting the skies. That contrasted sharply with the neon billboards and headlights of zooming vehicles. The sunset was a spectacle. Perhaps because I’ve not seen many of those in Bangalore. Blame it on the load of work, or my anti-social nature of being ensconced in a confined space, I have to concede that the world looks bloody brilliant during the sunset.

With those, and a couple more excursions, we ended our photography class. But in true filmy style, we had a grand finale. As you read this, in some printing press in the streets of Bangalore, our pictures are being printed on the cover of the College Magazine (or something or the other related to college…we’re not too sure). Our sir did some photo-shoots of the new auditorium and needed, ahem, models to make the college look more vibrant. So we gladly replaced our alumni of supermodels and clearly high on the overdose of photographs, we flounced about the basketball court looking slyly at the camera. The moment I get my hands on whichever book that carries the picture on it’s cover, I’m going to frame it and show it off to the next couple of generations (My general tendency is to appear hideous in all school/college magazines, but this one, my newfound photography intuition says, is going to be a classic.)

Well, that is it. The classes are done and it’s now my job to go and study (ha ha) for the exam. I have seen the pictures I’ve taken so far. They haven’t been spectacular, but there is some potential that is straining to appear amidst those images. If I manage to achieve my goal of retiring at the age of forty and settling down in the Fiji Islands (I have a friend there, you know.), then I’ll scrape a living out of clicking pictures of sunrise and sunset. Waitaminute, did I say sunrise? Doesn’t the sun rise, at like, five in the morning? *look of horror*