Tanveer Farooqui, well-known Industrial and Product photographer speaks with Dr Deepa Vanjani of his art and formative influences.
‘Ode to Odissi’, the photograph struck me as outstanding, one owing to the precision with which it has frozen for posterity the poise of Odissi dancers, and second due to the musicality of the title with its use of alliteration. ‘The Flute Player’ has in it an intense quietude, while the vibrancy of the Bhagoria festival of the tribals is portrayed beautifully in another photograph. These photographs speak a thousand languages and also of the artistry of Tanveer Farooqui’s photography.
The artist in Farooqui was nurtured in the lap of nature. Born in the small town of Depalpur in Madhya Pradesh in the year 1965, and brought up in his formative years at Sardarpur, renowned photographer, Tanveer Farooqui, grew up with the river Mahi and the mango groves along its banks. A close friend of his father, a professional photographer with a twin lens Yashika camera initiated him into the world of moments made permanent through the lens. “I remember him taking my pictures and later sending them through post. Those pictures caught my imagination and this incident is an indelible childhood impression,” he recalls.
While growing in the idyllic countryside listening to the mellifluous tunes of the flute played by shepherds, he was also exposed to reading masters as Chekhov and Gorki through magazines such as ‘Soviet Land’. The added advantage was that the magazine also had some very beautiful pictures and he spent a lot of time admiring them.
These influences shaped his sensibility, leading him on the road less travelled. His father wanted him to be a doctor; but young Farooqui had other dreams. The first lessons in photography came when in the 10th standard when he and his brother bought their first camera using their pocket money, a black and white Agfa. Once in a job he managed to buy his first SLR camera. And from now on there was no turning back. With this camera he clicked photographs of tribal life and the landscape. When the national daily ‘Nai Dunia’ started an art column, some 19 photographs of his got published. He was duly paid 50 rupees for a photograph!
By now he knew photography was his calling and he resigned his job to take up photography more professionally. An established industrial and product photographer, Tanveer started his own studio and began learning through practical experience. Was he hen largely autodidactic, I asked him? “I learnt as I worked through the trial and error method. I am largely self-taught, though from time to time I exposed myself to the works of great photographers,” recounts Tanveer. And he believes that this process of self-educating plays a crucial role in shaping the career of any photographer. He experimented with studio lights which had been recently introduced and achieved acclaim. And what should one do to update oneself? For this he bought books and magazines on photography from Mumbai and also attended workshops and fairs and widened his horizons. Every year he visited the Bhagoria fair of the tribals to capture the event on lens. One hundred and eighty such photographs have featured in ‘Ankan’, a book on photography published by Adivasi Lok Kala Parishad, Bhopal,Madhya Pradesh.
On being asked if tribal art has a special place in his heart he says, “Tribal life and art holds for me a special attraction and I have done a lot of work in this field.” And though professionally he turned to other modes of photography he stuck to his profound interest in tribal and culture - oriented photography that found its climax when he formed the Indore Photographers Community, an open group that was formed on Face Book. The group had its first show ’Pratibimb’ [reflection] in 2010 featuring the works of 30 photographers. This year on World Photography Day [19th August] the community showcased upcoming photographer Nilesh Bhange’s abstract photographs. It has thus provided a platform to youngsters for sharing their art. This according to Farooqui is important, as while information on photography is freely available on the World Wide Web, it is the sharing that motivates those who pursue this genre.
When did the shift to Industrial and Product photography occur? The turning point in his life, he recalls came with the contract from the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology at Indore in 1996-1997 that ushered in industrial photography into Farooqui’s professional life. This was when he produced photographs on transparencies for the first time which required great precision in terms of exposure.
What is the one thing any forthcoming photographer grappling with the camera needs to remember? “It is important to have a passion for learning, even if it has to be on one’s own,” is the photographer’s advice to those who have chosen to pursue this art as a profession. He also emphasizes exposure to various art forms for aesthetic refinement which are a must for any artist. These are the reservoirs of ideas that trigger one’s imagination he says, his exposure to books, to painting, to theatre in which he was actively involved for several years, had played a crucial role in his development as a photographer. In a National School of Drama workshop in the city which had established names as resource persons, he conducted accent sessions for the participants, having been exposed to chaste pronunciations in Urdu at home. This too Tanveer opines has been important to him in his photography, as also his love of Urdu poetry and classics of eminent writers such as Tagore and Premchand.
Refinement is a process enabled by exposure to the arts and “All art,” Tanveer says, “is interdisciplinary and therefore theatre or reading also helps in composition and expression.” And his emphasis has been on aesthetics rather than technique. This finds expression in his own work. His photographs are imbued in purity and express themselves through a silent language, leading the viewer away from the chaos within and without. Technique he feels is a tool to achieve a fine-tuning that leads to individual growth.
“The focus should be on one thing to excel and in the end only substance survives.” His wise word of caution to all shutterbugs so that each photograph communicates in a thousand languages!
Dr.Deepa Vanjani teaches at a leading college in Indore, India