One of the first female photojournalists in India, Sipra Das, is a well known and acclaimed name in the Indian press today. She tells ANANYA BORGOHAIN about her route to success which was full of challenges, dangers, accusations and also accomplishments
Visual chroniclers of and across times, photojournalists outline both the jubilation and disenchantment of life. For decades, we have had gigantic archive chronicling by many pundits in the field. However, what is very pronounced herein is the absence of female photojournalists. We do have an emerging number of female photographers currently but allow me to take you back to the Bengal of 1980s, and familiarise you with a woman photographer and her body of brilliant and brave work at a time when there was no photoshopping software nor emails through which the photograph could be mailed back to workplace. And neither did women from regular households designing a career in photography, or almost any other field, to a large extent. Sipra Das, however is a striking exception. She is a familiar name in the Indian press today. Originally from Bengal, and now in her fifties, she is not just a veteran photographer but a woman of supreme courage, aspirations and will power with decades of experience and accomplishments.
She is a little over an hour late for the interview. The moment I welcome her into my cabin, she says, “I know I am late, it’s just that I was struggling to find this photograph for more than a month and I finally got it today.” That in itself is a telling comment on this confident, vocal lady who still has her DSlR hanging on her side. Her passion for photography is well-known, more so, in the media circles. She refused to ever get married or have a family since she did not want to be distracted from her passion. “I married my camera”, she expresses proudly. She says that she does not like beverages; and having exchanged the courtesies, we start our snackless but freewheeling interaction:
Excuse my pre-conceived notion, but it does not seem likely that a woman would consciously choose photography as a career choice in the bygone era.
You are right. It started as my ‘majboori’. I come from a lower middle class family in Bengal. I was the eldest child and had four siblings, the responsibility to support the family fell on my shoulders. My father was perpetually ill and there was limited source of income in the family. When I was in the eighth standard, I offered tutorial classes to a student and earned eight rupees every month. I spent four rupees on the maintenance of my family and another four on my education. I had the knack of learning fast as well as championing whatever I did. I wanted to be a television producer. I used to write scripts and was good in sound composing and editing, even though I had not learned them formally. This one time I was also rightfully selected to be a producer of a television programme but they dropped me in the last minute due to political manipulations. After that, there was a series of such disappointments. I wrote a few features articles as well as joined as a teacher in a college since I was myself a graduate in Science. I did not enjoy it either. That is when it struck me that since I write my own articles, why not begin taking photographs myself to support those articles.
However, that worsened the situation because I left my job to learn photography and my family desperately needed financial support. And here I was, didn’t even know how to hold a camera! A friend lent me his Isolly II. Of the few freelance projects I was involved in, some were for All India Radio (AIR). A colleague, Sanjeeb Mukherjee, agreed to train me. Once he instructed me and I showed him the photos I had taken, he was stunned as to how a novice could take such excellent pictures. AIR had commissioned me to cover something at a tribal area in the Ghatsila-Purulia region in Bengal. I carried my Isolly II with me. It was raining torrentially that day but the pictures I took were marvelous. People were stunned and suggested that I get an SlR instead. My friend recommended a model but it cost Rs 2400, unimaginable for someone like me, even if it was to be paid in installments. But I tell you, when there is a will, there is a way. The moment I needed the money, AIR credited me with a pending amount of Rs 800. I lied to my mother to lend me Rs 400 more. Together with the first installment of Rs 1200, I bought the SlR.
How much stability did they succeed in bringing in to your lifeIJ
In fact, it was just a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg. The real saga was about to begin. I covered Jyotibabu’s (Jyoti Basu) rally in the Brigade Parade Ground (Bengal) and all jaws dropped. I was the only woman photographer around. Homi Vyarawalla was a an established senior but she was more of a Gandhi-family photographer. I was the ground-reality person. I covered cyclones, rallies, Ayodhya firings, crossfirings in Kashmir, riots, et al. I became an object to be scanned by the male eyes. At times they pushed, mocked, manhandled and harassed me.
But that didn’t deter me and I kept covering crucial events, be it the violent day of reopening of the Anandabazar Patrika after a three month old strike or the Calcutta Corporation Election. You need to realise that it was a time when after taking the picture I also had to personally bring it over to office because emailing wasn’t an option. Once I literally walked through the Matla river at night to submit a photograph. If it was a man doing that, everybody would have applauded his bravery. But the exact opposite happened in my case. That morning, only my photograph was used in all papers since the rest couldn’t deliver theirs. Everyone attributed it to my being a young woman, accusing me of using twisted means to get my job done.
Were you still freelancing thenIJ
Telegraph-Anandabazar Patrika offered me an appointment letter and immediately the photographers said, “If a woman photographer joins, we will all resign. Female presence will lower men’s characters.”
I was still not officially hired. Back then, Gorkhaland was an extremely sensitive issue and Subhash Ghising, was the leader of the Gorkha National liberation Front. While his relations with Rajiv Gandhi were strengthening, it spelled threat for Jyotibabu’s CPM. His men painted graffiti on walls saying, ‘Rajiv-Ghising oshubho aatta, bondho hok, bondho hok’ (End the damaging coalition between Rajiv and Ghising). But intelligent as he was, Jyotibabu sought to improve his ties with Ghising to reinstate the situation. Overnight, he ordered the CPM cadres to remove the wall paintings. Any photographer who was going to cover it, was being thrashed black and blue. They sent me to cover the same.
I found a wall with that graffiti. I arranged for brush and choona and got some nearby dweller out of his house and told him to pose. I took the picture and submitted it and shocked everybody! Next day, that picture covered four columns (laughs). I surrendered my resignation and said, “Sir, main ek ped hoon jisko aap jad mein kaat rahe hai, par yeh bhi sunke rakhiye, main isi ped se jhaar bannke niklungi” (I am a tree that you are uprooting right now, but mark my words, I will rise from the same shackled roots). life and freelancing continued and finally started working officially in Aajkaal newspaper. After about nine months, I joined the Press Trust of India.
Even at PTI, I was appointed as a freelancer though the post was for an official employee and they sent me to cover Rajiv Gandhi inaugurating the Farakka Bridge. I knew that by the time his speech would be over, all communication routes would be congested. I scheduled our way out in such a way that I could return and submit the pictures on time and once again, none of the males could. The following day, PTI offered me the official appointment letter and said, “Sipra, we are not giving you a job, you have achieved it on your own.” I have been subjected to trials in innumerable walks in life. Once someone even tried to kidnap me in the dark. I kicked him and ran away as fast as I could.
What are your opinions on photoshopping and such modern fadsIJ What camera do you useIJ
To an extent you have to accommodate and use such editing techniques but not too much that you ruin its natural beauty and essence. It’s all digital today and things have become loose, unlike our times of the film rolls and developers were such unique charms. It can be artificial and anybody is a photographer these days, and shooting the picture mostly! I use a Canon D30, 72-200mm and 16-35mm wide lens and a Canon Mark III too.
What defines a good photographIJ
The hard work, patience, passion, presence of mind, timing and technical knowledge of the photographer.
Your book, The light Within (Niyogi Books) is on blind people, which is very interesting, given that it is in contrast to your profession.
I wanted to do something both unique and innovative. I was always a dedicated worker and worked without an off day. I was persistent that I have to research and find visually challenged people leading normal lives and present them to the world. I stayed at a Blind Association hostel. In the morning, I threw a fuss about not having a mirror in the hostel. I felt agitated upon not being able to see my face. The lack of a mirror caused me such discomfort and there they were, these wonderful blind people, eating, working, playing, without an iota of a complaint. It was striking.
Can a blind person be a photographerIJ
Yes, he/she will have to rely on sounds then.
What’s left to achieve nowIJ
My family tells me to return to Bengal since I am aging. But I know that I cannot live without photography today. It should never come to an end.