Looking Beyond What You Think You Know

All the elements came together to look like something out of a pop artwork, and this caught my attention.

As an architect by profession, it is second nature to me to size up a room in my head. When I stumbled upon this tool sharpening shop, this default setting of my brain measured it up and decided it was a 5 x 5 feet room. I stood there for a long time and realised it that a pair of scissors painted on the wall, the dangling knives and the rusted sharpening machine that had actually first caught my eye. The thought about room’s dimensions had followed later.

I discovered that the artwork was done by a local painter who was instructed to cover up the cracks on the wall. In doing that, he had completely changed the look of the shop. It seemed like a rudimentary pop art piece had assembled itself on its own accord. There it was, a predetermined composition waiting to be shot.

Ever since that day, I have been incorporating elements from daily life in my pictures—be it a green shoe or a brick road, anything that catches my attention.

Quite often, we get caught up in what we think we know best, so much that our perspective becomes one dimensional. I guess it is important to come out of our niche from time to time. So, don’t limit yourself by steering clear of uncharted territory. Simply, dive in. That’s what I do and I have found that I observe a lot more than just rooms.

—Sheena Sabharwal