| "Some interviews take you to another level. This is one such rare interview. A perfectionist, dissecting to the core, cynical in his own words — call him what you will…but behind that face is a man who gave his all to photography. Farrokh Chothia does not like to hog headlines for himself or his calendars— nor does he have the time for it. At his Churchgate Studio, as he drags his black chair, he calls out without much ado — “Shootâ€! Kaushik Chakravorty spends time with him..." |
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Looking at your black and white work on your website vis-Ã -vis your colour work, one wonders if you have a particular fascination for any one medium.
I think the biggest tragedy is that a lot of these photography publications, for some reason, seem to have broken down photography into just lens testing and colour charts. This is all very valid, but to my colleagues and me it is absolutely irrelevant. When you are talking about photography, it's all very secondary.What matters is what's in your head.
You are not a recording instrument. You are an interpreter. You're modifying a certain reality to suit what is inside your head. Thus, when you come to the argument of black and white vs. colour, digital vs. film, colour vs. infrared, underwater vs. nomal, east vs. west, they are very irrelevant discussions.
And very stupid. What's important is what's on your mind.
The next step is to identify what tools you have to actualise it. Who cares what people say about black and white or colour. There is nothing right or wrong. You could even shoot with a point and shoot camera. However for most commercial work you do need a great degree of reliability, optical excellence and superiority of equipment.
Know the technology and the rules and then throw it away. Don't sit down in front of your computer and fool with the filters. See it in your head first.
Carving an imagination… How do you carve it?
I am not claiming that I have great imagination. Here is the rule - "Nothing in nothing out" If you have not read anything, not seen anything, not aware of what's happening around you and in the world, the ignorance would reflect in your creations. Very few of us are Mozart. Most of us are in varying degrees of talent. One needs to be curious. You need to be like a sponge. Especially in your formative years. You should get yourself exposed to as many different things as possible — Art and Experiences. You need to have depth in yourself to get it in your work. In our country, for the most part, we are unicultural - most people hear and see things, which are made in India. Fine but then your work will also reflect a single dimension. Whether you are a filmmaker or a photographer — the more concepts you've read, more music you've heard, more books you've studied, more images you've seen, exhibitions you've visited, art you've seen, the more layered your creations would be.
What is the relevance of monochrome in Fashion?
An image whether it has to be B/W monochrome or colour is entirely at the disgretion of the designer or the client.
In India colour is very important. Capturing the colour and the reproduction of the same is very important for the manufacture or the client. And therefore communicating it to the consumer. Most of the fashion work is very colour oriented with focus on detail. Consumers want to see what they are getting. If you shooting monochrome, are they going to understand it or is it like who cares. I am going to shoot it either way.
Internationally…Europe has been dealing with fashion since last 100 years. And thereby they are that much more advanced. We are at a very nascent stage. Modernity on the exterior and modernity of the mind are two different things. It shall take 15-20 years to penetrate into the mass of India. Parts of the country is still 300-400 years behind…Only a minute percentage of Indians have gone out and reached there. The attempt in India is to bring everything down. Take reservation for instance. We have just about started about 5 years ago. So we can't have communication like in Europe, which is so far ahead.
And for Editorial fashion images…
Images shot for editorial are a different ball game altogether.Editorial is essentially space provided by a publication - to kind of paint your own canvas. Where advertisers do not let you do your own thing, editorial provides you the platform to do just that — shooting for yourself and getting it published most of the time.
Has the Farrokh of 30 years back changed?
No. I don't think so. As you grow older, you shoot more and you leave clichés behind. If 30 things excited me then, only 5 things do now. It's more like — have been there and done that. Also, you get more and more cynical and I mean that in a positive way. You get more discerning. Your nose becomes much more sharper and you begin to sniff out what's going to be great and what's not.
Today there is not much choice. 20 years back you could sit on your laurels and churn out rubbish. Today you cant. Things are brought to your notice much faster. Your work is compared to international standards. And if my work is not showing good against someone, it needs re-thinking. And this is the way the world works. People are not bullshitting anymore.
And here is where we need you — the media.
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