Stolen camera

I had my camera bag stolen from my car about two weeks back. It had quite a bit of equipment in it. Please don't ask me the details - I will probably punch you in the face.  As a result,I have started carrying very little equipment on a daily basis because I am scared. I feel that I might have my equipment stolen again. Now there are two schools of thought as far as that is concerned. One, which consists mostly of my friends, says - lightning never strikes the same place twice. The other school(or rather an institution), which is my head has the  following theory: "The thief has my car marked and has my number noted down... he followed me that day and has been keeping an eye on me ever since.He is waiting for a chance to strike again!!!" Result? The second school of thought is winning hands down.

The bottom line is - I have kind of slowed down. What has happened is that it has made me turn minimalist(I like the sound of that word!) and re-examine the kind of equipment I use and how I use it. The mantra - "don't take a picture... make a picture!" has been resonating in my head. The following pictures are a result of trying to follow that mantra. The first two are that of my wife, Gul and the third photograph features Behzaad Khan, who plays an extremely important part in my show Arjun. And yeah, the awesome selfie that I posted a few days back on my Facebook page is also a result of the same.

There is also an emerging third school of thought which says whatever happens, happens for the best. So the thief who took my camera has actually done me a favour and forced me to come close to what I have been trying to achieve and I should actually be happy that I had my camera stolen. All the people who belonged to the third school are no longer on my friend list. One of them also woke up to discover that the windscreen of his car had mysteriously cracked during the night.

Needless to say that at the moment, I am not a heavy believer in karma and it gives me immense joy to think about the person who stole my camera in a head to head with a heavy-ish kind of vehicle.

Inspiration: The magic of old things

" Where is your camera these days? Don't see it much..." Behzaad asked me a couple of weeks back. "It's always in my car," I said, "It's just that I am really sick of shooting all of you (the ETF team) and only you - all the time! Maybe I should have cast Katrina Kaif in Arjun,instead of you guys!!!"

"...or maybe Priyanka Chopra," chimed in Shaleen and we all had a hearty laugh.

The truth was that I really was getting frustrated of shooting only these guys - mostly under lighting conditions that were set up by the cameraman on set. I felt that I was contributing very little, if at all, to the creation of the pictures that I post so often.  My trigger finger was getting itchy. I had not shot something for almost 15 days. Even a call from Raju Bhai, my trusted friend and camera dealer, telling me that a lens that I had ordered long back was finally in stock, failed to excite me. I almost reluctantly went and picked up the wide angle 17-35mm lens from his place late at night and got it home.

On my way to the set the next day, stuck in a Mumbai traffic jam, I started flipping through my "Inspiration" notebook. It is actually a software called Evernote which I use very often to keep quotes, pictures, photographs and other stuff  for future reference - or for times just like these. I came across this quote:

To select well among old things, is almost equal to inventing new ones. - Nicholas Charles Trublet

Then it struck me - what I needed to create/invent was already around me. I had very willing and able actors who would do (practically) anything for me and I was surrounded by lights every single day - the two most important components of photography! All I needed to do was to get them together and create a shot that I could call mine!  I had a few images in my head that I wanted to shoot as a part of a project that I had been thinking of for quite some time. I reached the set that day, determined to get my shot before the day got over. In between all my meetings, discussions and briefings that day, I kept my camera around my neck and an eye out for the frame that I wanted to capture. Finally, in the evening as everybody was  going about their work - I identified the shot I wanted to take and I quietly asked a couple of lightmen to help me setup the lights for my shot.

As soon as Behzaad got free, I asked him to come with me and took the photograph. After him, it was Shaleen's turn but unfortunately, by that time, the cameraman on set had ordered those lights to be brought in because he needed them. I barely managed to get Shaleen's picture as I asked the lightmen, who were already in the process of taking the lights away to step outside the frame. If I remember correctly, both the pictures took a total of two minutes.

Also, as I thanked them and walked away, I cannot be sure... but from the corner of my eye, I think I saw Behzaad and Shaleen exchange a high-five and in between their muted laughter, I distinctly heard one of them say something about Katrina Kaif...

As usual, you can find the large versions of these pictures on my Google Plus page.