Noted
photographer Assavri Kulkarni, at a recently held lecture on photography, spoke about the journey so far. She
was also pleased to give an insight on her book, ‘Markets of Goa’, documentary
work that was published in 2015 as well as her latest book, published on
December 1, 2018, titled ‘Light to Photography’.
Assavri studied Advertising Photography at
Goa College of Art, University of Goa, and has also specialised in food and
fashion photography for the past 14 years. She previously conducted a couple of
workshops related to her work like a portrait workshop for women, summer
workshop for children, workshop for street children at Hamara School, Panjim
and workshops for Banglore Photography. Apart from these, her work includes a
weekly photo feature in ‘Tarun Bharat’.
She believes in sharing her knowledge and
has conducted photography classes for undergraduate students of Don Bosco
College, Panjim, Manipal IT and Cambridge International School, Vasco.
Speaking to the crowd, Assavri reveals that earlier, Goa lacked
women photographers. “Women were afraid to step out due to society guidelines.
There were hardly any women photographers,” she says. Through her journey, she
has seen the rise of many women photographers gradually and it makes her proud.
Falling in love with the markets in Mapusa as a kid, she decided
that the first book she would work on would be ‘Markets of Goa’. This was her
way of paying tribute to the Goan markets. Although she had other books lined
up, she wanted to make this her special debut. Besides lecturing on her
experiences, she also spoke of her photographic techniques.
Assavri explained that ‘Markets of Goa’ is categorised as
natural documentary photography and doesn’t fall under commercial. Commercial
photography includes fashion, food, product, sports, architecture and interior
and advertising. As a commercial photographer, she has to click and obtain
results the way it is described by the client; this is fun yet stressful. But,
it is an entirely different story with documentary photography. Though
specialising in commercial photography, she enjoys documentary work.
“I’m a storyteller. I like telling a story of a place or an
event. A photographer can express themselves through real life settings and
photos more than commercial, which have boundaries,” she expresses.
Differentiating the value of documentary and commercial
pictures, Assavri defines documentary as -historic moments remaining forever,
whereas commercial may have a shelf life.
During
the making of the book ‘Markets of Goa’, she contributes an experience of
market that was settled in a courtyard. After a few years, the market was
modernised and no longer existed in the same manner; which brought to Assavri’s
realisation that moments like these need to be captured. Even after it
vanishes, these moments remain pictured and remembered as a historic event or
place.
