Kiran Jonnalagadda’s Blog

In April, I attended the Fireflies Festival of Sacred Music and took a bunch of pictures. Fireflies resident Anugraha John approached me to say he had seen my earlier pictures and liked them, and would like to use this set for event publicity. Several of the performers also asked if they could have pictures. I gave them copies and uploaded a few. Another fireflies resident Saju V wrote an article for the Deccan Herald and some of my pictures got included.

The next month, the festival’s co-organisers Guruskool Music mailed to ask if I could cover Sunday Jam, their monthly concert for upcoming bands. I did. When I handed them the pictures, Geetha Navale surprised me with a cheque for my efforts. It wasn’t much (Rs 750) and I won’t be getting rich off such gigs, but it was very sweet of them. Then the Deccan Herald sent a cheque too (Rs 500) for the pictures they published.

I couldn’t make it to Sunday Jam in June, but Silvester Divas did. Silvester’s been making incredible pictures despite having a DSLR only a few months. He has an enthusiasm for exploring his equipment’s capabilities that I no longer do. From what I heard, he liked Sunday Jam.

This July, neither of us could make it, which is quite unfortunate. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from these gigs, it’s that upcoming artists want to be photographed performing. They’re happy to have a lens pointing at them. And amateur photographers want subjects to practise with. There’s only so much inspiration you can get running around with a camera and shooting everything on the street. Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of anyone else to ask.

It’s almost like there’s a need for a forum facilitating this sort of linking up. I propose we make one. Let’s call it the Social Photography Exchange. It could be as simple as a mailing list where photographers hang out and event organisers or performers post to ask for coverage. A website with greater load handling capabilities can come later.

What do you think?