Shoot at sight
When Mustafa Quraishi came away from a Maoist camp in Nallamala, Andhra Pradesh, a glance at the previous day’s newspaper sent a chill down his spine. There had been a police ambush on the same camp the night before… Such a close shave with death, he says, made him realise how scary as well as thrilling his job as a photo journalist was.
Lack of a Bachelor’s degree did not keep Quraishi, 30, from climbing the career ladder in photo journalism. Working with the international news agency Associated Press (AP), he also has a media fellowship to his credit.
“I wanted to join the Army but couldn’t match their physical standards, so I set my eyes on photo journalism,” he says. “When the Army job didn’t come my way, I chucked college studies as it seemed futile at that time. One must have talent, not a degree, to become a good photographer.” The profession of a cameraman was “looked down upon by the aunties and the uncles but my passion couldn’t be suppressed”, he recounts.
It is this passion that drives a photo journalist, as one has to struggle very hard to find a job or regular work in the initial years. RS Iyer, a qualified lawyer, quit his practice within a year to become a shutterbug in the early ’90s. He went on to cover the 1999 Kargil war and is now photo editor in a well-known news agency. At 18, Quraishi’s career took off at The Indian Express, where he covered civic problems and later, the entertainment beat. After a five-year stint, he got a job offer from AP.
“For a photo journalist, a news agency is the best place to be in,” Quraishi says. “Here, we have flexibility and scope to explore our potential. I could never have experienced such quality journalism while in a newspaper.”
Field training
Though Quraishi took formal training in photography at Delhi’s Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communications, the real learning was on the job.
A photo journalist not only learns the nuances of journalism on the field, but also polishes his/her skills there — sometimes the hard way. “You might even get beaten up on assignments, which should be considered a part of learning. Each assignment makes you a better photographer,” says Quraishi.
What excited him the most was his encounter with the Maoists in Chhattisgarh. “When a journalist goes to a Maoist-infested zone, he puts his life at risk. Even the mobile connection goes off. My assignments in the Maoist-infested states were probably the scariest yet.”
Author: Vimal Chander Joshi
Date: 16th Sep., 2009
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