No alternative to still photography: Photographers

"Now we can see people clicking images at all places from Alipore Horticulture Garden to the roadside flower, the number of photographers have increased manifold over the years," celebrated lensman Subrata Patronobis said at `Changing Lanes` exhibition here on Wednesday.

Patronobis, who had taken numerous memorable photos including the one on the young Mousumi Chatterjee, the child wife in Balika Bodhu, said capturing the mood of a situation remained the most important thing for any photographer. "I remember having gone to film the mourning of a group of women following the death of a group of men in a rural colony a day after the tragedy. But strangely I found the women breaking into sobs in unison as we approached but their children playing in the courtyard," he said.

"I later offered them chocolates, sometimes you have to take recourse to such things for recreating the mood," Patronobis said. On the use of digital cameras, he said while it has made the job of photographers easier, but the basic thing of framing has to be there," he said.

Senior photographer Bikash Das said that "knowing the place where you will get the perfect shot makes the job easier for a photographer".

Taking the discussion to another side, famed fashion photographer Sanat Ghosh harped on the coordination between an actor and a photographer which helps to bring out the best production in the film industry. "Both the photographer and the actor have to understand each other`s languages. This depends on the understanding between the two which may be missing in case of an amateur lensman," Ghosh said.