"Photography should reflect the reality. It
should act as a mirror to the trials and tribulations
faced by the society. Unfortunately today photography
is constricted to fashion and modelling." These
are the hard hitting statements of SK Rahman,
a prominent photographer of contemporary life in India.
Rahman who is working as an Associate Professor in JNTU
College of Fine Arts has taken breath taking pictures
on nature and the society and is planning to take some
poignant images of children working in the bangle industry
in Chudi Bazaar area of the old city. "Little
children are working under pathetic conditions in the
bangle industry. I want to incarcerate these moving
images in my camera", said Rahman who recently
conducted a photo exhibition on the street life of Kolkatta.
 The
photo exhibition 'Nukkad-The Street Life of Kolkatta'
brought into light the simple life style of Kolkatta,
the polluted Ganga river and the darkness in the lives
of the people living in the red light area of Sona Gacchi.
"Taking photographs in Sona Gacchi was a challenging
task. I had to take lot of risk while shooting the pictures,"
says Rahman who has taken more than 6000 pictures
on diverse subjects like 'Rock Forms of Deccan Plateau'.
But what made him to go to Kolkatta and take the pictures
of the city and its people? The life in Kolkatta
is so simple that people sleep and bath on the road.
Anyone with little money can lead a happy life there.
This simplicity of life fascinated me when I visited
the 'City of Joy' for the first time in 1988.
On my next trip in 1995, I shot some pictures. But it
was in 2000 that I took large number of pictures touring
the city extensively from morning 5 o clock to evening
11 o clock," says Rahman reminiscing the times
when he toured the city holding a camera in hand.
Rahman, a great admirer of photography feels that photography
is not getting the kind of treatment it is supposed
to get. "The Government has imposed heavy taxes
on photographic equipment making it a costly affair",
says thirty five year old Rahman. He also feels
that Corporate houses should come forward to sponsor
the photographic exhibitions. With lot of difficulty
Rahman could garner only few companies to sponsor his
photographic exhibition on the street life of Kolkatta.
"Photography related companies like Kodak, Cannon,
Fuji Film should come forward to sponsor the photographic
exhibitions. This will boost the morale of photography
enthusiasts," says Rahman who has participated
in various seminars, workshops and conferences associated
with photography.
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