Blog by: Sujith
The guy standing next to me had the courage to ask Raghu Rai if he can click a picture of him and he gave his point and shoot camera, Raghu Rai obliged and i was stunned! that was the humility the 75 years old legend, the man who documented India had, a strong, valuable lesson for all the photographers around the world.
I was keeping a close tab on what was happening with CPB2019 especially after attending the workshop on photojournalism and storytelling by Dimitry Becks, a big shout out to Chennai Photo Biennial, this was the best workshop/seminar long distance the best I have attended so far.
My intention to go to the screening of Raghu Rai’s movie by his daughter was not only to enjoy the movie on him but at any cost I wanted to click this man in my camera. The 58 minutes documentary style movie was engaging throughout and as soon as it was over, Raghu Rai arrived in style and the entire packed house gave him a standing ovation and like me there were atleat another 30 odd photographers in the auditorium , who took out their DSLR cameras and started firing. the short discussion had a lot of insights on documentary photography, the digital worlds influence and even how social media is influencing photography. He was at his candid best when answering questions and was never diplomatic in answering any questions shot at him. At the end almost everyone who attended got a chance to meet him and he patiently obliged for all the selfies and a few group shots for a good 30 minutes and I was also lucky enough to get a picture with him.
For me personally the best part when this picture was taken, a lady came forward and asked for a picture and i was the guy standing right in front of him, looking at me, he politely asked “photographer, can you take a picture of us” That was too much of happiness to digest in one evening.