They belong to different professional leagues, yet the common passion for photography has lured them to form a team and acquire the title Chhobiwalas. Debarshi Duttagupta, Atish Sen, Bijit Bose, Arijit Talukder and Soumya Bandopadhyay have been shooting the different moments in life, with humans as main subjects, since the last five years. However, Debarshi’s area of interest is landscapes, particularly clouds, but he does not mind people straying into his frame.
The five lensmen’s artistic sensibilities have beautifully blended into a collection named Moment Um, which was recently exhibited in Kolkata. In their pursuit to capture the best moments, the Chhobiwalas have invested a lot of effort and imagination. With their cameras in tow, they travelled to different parts of India.
“With its tapestry of people and draped in myriad landscapes, the entire country is a photographer’s delight. For Moment Um, we settled for a distinct flavour that was found in abundance at Pushkar Fair in Rajasthan, the Maha Kumbh in Haridwar, the Lathmar Holi in Nandgaon, and the ghats of Benaras. Of course, Kolkata, our hometown, too found a place in the list,” informs Debarshi, whose work Learning to Fly emerged as the Grand Prix winner at this year’s Nikon International Photo Contest.
Talking about the experience of exploring India through the lens, Atish says, “While creatively, it was a memorable experience, on a personal level too, the trip turned out to be a fantastic one. It gave us a chance to come out of the urban cacophony and discover an India where the past is preserved with much care and precision. Meeting the locals of these places, sampling their cuisine and celebrating the cultural and religious events in true traditional style are memories worth preserving.”
The portraits of an old Rajasthani woman, the camel trader glued to his job, an old woman staring at the camera, the little monk busy with his daily routine, and a sadhu posing in the backdrop of the blue wall are some of the
eye-catchers of their collection.
When asked if five creative minds working in tandem ever leads to a clash of ideas Arijit responds saying, “The hurdles hardly exist. Rather, what matters is to coordinate everything, and to meet the deadline for the exhibition. As all five of us have different shooting styles, it was a challenge to get images which would create a uniform tempo in the exhibition. We knew what images we were selecting and a mutual consensus was reached. The effort paid off, as the selections found appreciation from the visitors.”
And Moment Um has paved the way for the “talented five” to continue with their artistic pursuit as a group. “The Chhobiwalas will soon be sitting together to plan our subjects for the next exhibition,” informs Soumya.