Weekend shooters……….Humaira Ansari
A group of amateur photographers busily click snapshots of the city every weekend
A group of amateur photographers busily click snapshots of the city every weekend
Mumbai: Throughout the week, they do their own thing but come Sunday and they are on a different trip altogether. Armed with their cameras, a bunch of amateur photographers get busy shooting the cityscape. Capturing beautiful snapshots of the antiques lining the shops at Chor Bazaar; rows of washermen in action at the Dhobi Ghat; freezing fragrances at the Dadar flower market; the inviting street food at Juhu Chowpatty or the fireworks illuminating the night sky at Marine Drive, members of the Mumbai Weekend Shoot (MWS) do it all.
non-profit group, MWS, with an active member base of 300 amateur photographers has done 40 weekend shoots since its inception in September 2008. An interest in photography is the only criterion for joining this group.
Whether one possesses an expensive SLR, a digital camera, or simply their cell phone camera, anyone is welcome to join the group and go clicking. The members are aged 18 years and above.
“I had posted a message on flicker (online photo portal) that I wanted to go clicking on a weekend and was looking forward to some company and to my surprise about eight people turned up,” says Riddhi Rathi, 23, working at the National Stock Exchange. This turnedout to be MWS’s first photo shoot. The second shoot saw 15 enthusiastic photographers coming together and today, an average shoot sees 25 to 30 members coming over.
Members comprise bankers, students, doctors, businesspersons, architects etc who come together to satiate their love for photography. Gynaecologist and obstetrician Ameya Purandare joined the group six months back. His introduction to the group was quite by chance.
Once, while he was on his way to get his camera fixed, he stumbled upon someone. “The person was from Bangalore and he asked me if I was into photography and I replied yes,” he recalled. The next question the person asked him was if he was a member of MWS. “That’s how I learnt about MWS and strangely, from someone outside the city.”
While Purandare pursues his interest regularly and passionately, there are occasions when he has to leave a shoot midway to attend to some other work. But the stimulation to go clicking on a Sunday is definitely “different, relaxing, and destressing” he feels.
Mulchand Dedhia, a 24-year-old businessman and a member of MWS recalls an instance to showcase the passion which attracts individuals to pursue their interest.
Mulchand Dedhia, a 24-year-old businessman and a member of MWS recalls an instance to showcase the passion which attracts individuals to pursue their interest.
“Once, I walked up to an elderly man in the group thinking that he was a professor and asked him, ‘Are you going to teach us?’ and he simply replied, ‘I am here to learn just like you.”
Owing to its proactive profile, MWS has also made friends with other photography clubs like the DFC (Delhi Fotography Club), P@P (Photographers@Pune), KWS (Kolkata Weekend Shoots), THEPCA (The Photography Club of Ahmedabad) among others. A pan India shoot is in the pipeline for these club members.
Businessman Vishal Damniwala, MWS’s administrator who often hires photographers to profile products for his business brochures, smilingly stated, “For the last one month, I have started taking photos of the products on my own and also saved cost.”
Krunal Mehta, 20, another of MWS’s member says, “Mumbaikars rarely get an opportunity to explore their creative side due to the hectic work schedule. MWS gives them such an opportunity.”
As Purandare signs off, “When we meet,we become and feel like photographers at heart and in spirit.”