Photographer Hizol Choudhury: “Being colour-blind is not my weakness but my strength”
“I did not choose photography, it chose me,” shared Hizol Choudhury, describing his journey of becoming a professional photographer in Silchar.
From getting regularly featured in various portrait and other photo journals on social media to getting featured on the official Instagram page of an automobile giant, Hizol Choudhury, at a young age, have already made a name for himself behind the lens. One of his recent clicks was published by Yamaha Motors in its official Instagram page with a caption “INFUSE YOUR LIFE WITH HOPE & WONDER.”
Breaking the widely accepted notion that following passion over education is more important, Hizol credits his formal education to be a major push to pursue photography. And what’s most surprising about this young man is that he is colour-blind. But he has never let that become a roadblock in his love for photography instead he made his weakness his strength.
Hizol Choudhury, son of well-established industrialist and intellectual Taimur Raja Choudhury intends to open a one of kind state of the art studio in Silchar. In an exclusive interaction with Barakbulletin’s Jnanendra Das, Hizol Choudhury shares his journey with the camera, drums and much more….
Edited Excerpts:
Your click recently got featured in Yamaha Motors’ official Instagram page, how was the feeling…
I was very happy to see the feature. It was one of that photograph, which was totally unplanned. I was thinking of a shoot and had asked a model to join. We were to then search for a beautiful location. She was running late and I was waiting with my gear near Ulubari (Guwahati) flyover. Suddenly I saw that fun and cool graffiti. That’s when she came on her scooter and we did the shoot.
Now you are a well-known photographer in the region. But tell us how did it all start? What made you pick up the camera?
It all started from my childhood. I always loved holding the camera but as I joined Assam University for graduation in Visual Arts, I had photography class as a part of the course and they used to teach developing film rolls, photograms which were quite uncommon to me and that got me into photography. Back then, I didn’t have a camera of my own, I used my mother’s simple point and shoot camera. I used that for my lessons and so far I remember the first photo I took was that of a pulse grain. I had no idea of the depth of field or saturation back then. I just switched to macro mode and clicked that. Seeing the picture, I did think that I am an amazing photographer (laughs).
The camera you use is an expensive one, people can easily say – if I had a Rs 3 lakh equipment I would have also clicked great images. Does an expensive camera make you a good photographer?
No, not at all. I frequently get asked by my Insta followers about the gears and lighting I use, and what they should buy to start with photography. But what I understand is that even if it’s a cheap camera, the knowledge of your machine, composition, lighting is more important. Gear can make a difference. It does make our job easier but one has to know the layover of the photo or the composition. There is a meme, that once you switch to ‘manual’ setting from ‘auto’ the wannabe photographer is over.
Where did you draw inspiration from, was there any individual who motivated you to pick up photography as a profession?
Mostly I am self-taught and Youtube videos helped me a lot to learn about gears and composition. There is a well-known photographer, Peter McKinnon, whose Youtube tutorials helped me a lot to understand photography. I have never experienced a tutorial the way he does.
Also, there are a couple of well-known photographers in our region- Debraj Chakraborty whom we call Debraj da is an excellent landscape photographer. He inspired me a lot, his works have taught me a lot.
Your father is a famous industrialist and social activist. Joining his business must have been luring but you chose to click pictures at weddings where people must be addressing you as cameraman come here and go there…
My parents have always been supportive of whatever I did or choose. The time when I was to choose a stream for graduation and all the kids were choosing going to medical and engineering, my father asked me what I wanted to do in my life. I chose to opt for Visual-Arts and finally did my graduation in it, which eventually led me into photography. There is a saying that “You’re your father’s son but you have to create an aim for yourself”. And what I think is that I never chose photography, it chose me. I love wedding photography and have no issues in calling myself a cameraman.
While photography in itself is very challenging, you are specially abled when it comes to identifying colours. Does your colour blindness come in the way of your photography?
Yes, of course, it does (laughs loudly). But like I said, I never chose photography. Yes, I am colour blind and can’t see less saturated colours like shades of orange and green. Now the thing is, there is an advancement in the software we have these days, there are metering systems and histograms which can help colour-blind people to identify colours. But when I do my own work, I do the editing as I would see the world. Moreover, the followers I have, they appreciate the type of crunch or the editing I do which actually happens because of my colour blindness, so it is not a weakness but it is my strength.
How do people react when they come to know of your shortcoming? Does it get difficult to handle unwanted sympathy?
Luckily for me, no one shows sympathy towards me. On the other hand, people say that your editing is so different and I say that it’s due to my colour blindness.
How much did your academic knowledge help you in where you are today?
As I told you, I am self-taught but the key element in photography is that the camera captures light and not the images. My academic knowledge in photography helped me in learning how light works. During my graduation days, I learnt to manipulate light thanks to my photography classes. Many teachers from my department helped me learn photography but one person, who has a bigger role is my teacher Alfarid Hussain. He helped me understand how different types of light works and the three-point lighting system.
Is it only photography or would you like to try your hands in cinematography?
I love cinematography but it’s not my forte. Whenever I get an opportunity of cinematography, my good friend Abhishek Goswami comes to my rescue. Everyone has their own forte but I am learning cinematography and getting into it a more these days.
What is it that Hizol Choudhury would like to achieve in the coming two years, which would make you happy.
What makes me happy is seeing my clients and followers happy. I must add that I am opening a one of a kind state of the art indoor photography studio in this valley. It will have state of the art lighting equipment, backdrops, real-time image monitoring and capturing for portraits. It will start by April and there will be more possibilities of shooting indoors with more creative lights and better sets. Also, I am planning to do a photography workshop, if I get a favourable number of people interested, I’ll start it soon.
Other than photography and cinematography, you are also into music. Tell us more about that?
Music started much before photography, I have learnt to play the drums and I have switched bands. I have been playing for thirteen years. Now I teach drums on Sundays.
What do you do in your free time?
I love playing video games. My ‘me time’ is video games and I have spent a lot in video-game setup. Other than that I love travelling for photography and whenever I’m travelling, I try to get in touch with people and shoot in different locations.
What is the message you would like to give to budding photographers?
Don’t get disheartened if you see a photographer doing something beyond your skill level. Keep trying and focusing on your work. Photography is a long trial and error process and if you see someone doing photography for putting bread on the table doesn’t mean you’ll also have to do this. Whatever it is, pursue your passion.
Check out Hizol Choudhury photography skills on his Instagram page here
Comments are closed.