Shooting on mobile phones takes more effort | Auditya Venkatesh Answers | In Frame with Gorky M, Episode 5
If you’re Indian, and you’re a photographer - it’s quite likely you’ve heard of Auditya Venkatesh. He’s leading the army of smartphone photographers all around India. And it’s not like he only shoots with smartphones, he shoots a ton of commercial stuff too - but he wants to get the message out there that equipment shouldn’t limit you. It should empower you.
Yes, this image was taken on a smartphone. © Auditya Venkatesh Photography.
“You want to be shooting with whatever equipment you have on you.” says the acclaimed photographer and cinematographer (now a director of photography in movies as well).
Gorky M caught up with him backstage at Pepx photocon, Mumbai, where he was giving a talk and engaging his fans, and the maverick dished out plenty of insights and tips for our viewers.
“As cliche as it sounds, the most important thing is being yourself when taking pictures.” What Auditya means is that while there may be many images that people enjoy looking at, it’s important to go with what you enjoy shooting most. They could be portraits or landscapes, you must work on the kind of story YOU want to go with.
Auditya also debunks the legend that taking pictures with your smartphone is easier than shooting with a professional camera because you can just whip it out and take pictures.
“If you’re trying to shoot something more seriously,(with a smartphone) it’s actually a lot more effort. You have a really small sensor to start with, you barely have any depth of field to play around with, you get a lot more noise when shooting in low light situations. There’s a whole bunch of things (that limit you) actually. So it does take a lot more effort.”
© Auditya Venkatesh Photography
Check out the video linked at the end to know how Auditya takes mind boggling images on his smartphone.
Auditya shoots plenty of commercial assignments where the equipment he uses is top of the line, but he’s become synonymous with smartphone photography. He doesn’t mind that at all.
“I get a lot of emails and messages from people saying that they don’t have professional cameras and if it’s possible to still make images everyday. And that’s why I share so many smartphone photos. Fair enough if people think I only shoot on smartphones. ”
And there’s more where that came from. In episode 5 of our series ‘In Frame With Gorky M’, Auditya shares how it all began, and how he works. It’s a pretty interesting conversation between the two of them. Check out the entire conversation in the video embedded below. Don’t forget to subscribe. There’s more to come from GMax Studios in 2019.
