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By Surya Narayan Pradhan
Bhubaneswar: Holding a digital single-lens reflex camera or DSLR as better known, with a focus on the subject and capturing astounding pictures bring cheers to some of the ladies of Odisha. Earlier thought to be an area dominated by males, photography is now one of the most sought-after careers among the ladies of the State. Many are opting for photography for the kind of money it gives while others are just pursuing their passion and soothe their soul willing to do something different.
A handful female photographers in the State is making a mark with quality work and hitting headlines in newspapers. People are not at awe finding a lady clicking photos with her DSLR camera at a wedding or doing a model photo shoot at a faraway location.
Pragyan Panigrahi, one of the front row female photographers of the State engaged in wedding photography, said, “As marriage is special to every family irrespective of caste, community or group, people obviously want to make the occasion eternal through photographs. A quality photographer is sought after to capture the moments during a wedding and budget was prepared accordingly by a family.”
Pragyan has never looked back after she decided to take up wedding photography way back in 2011 when admiration poured in from friends and well-wishers afterwards she uploaded the pictures clicked by her on social media like Facebook. Though Pragyan does not have any formal photography training, she has managed to be among topmost wedding photographers in the State.
Started photography as a hobby while studying Masters in Computer Application (MCA), Pragyan is now having a venture of her own where around 40 people are working.
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Asked about her charges for wedding photography, Pragyan said, “The fee depends upon the demand of clients regarding the kind of photography they want. But mostly the price for the photography ranges from Rs 60,000 to Rs 80,000 and Rs 1 lakh during peak season.”
She is also into model photo shoot but that happens only during offseason.
“Initially, my friends and relatives were apprehensive about my choice for the photography career as going out for assignments may invite trouble for a female photographer. Apart from this, I was clueless about how people would react finding a female photographer at her job,” Pragyan added.
However, proving the apprehensions baseless the photography career option, a well managed profession, has opened up lots of opportunities for lady photographers, she acknowledged.
Expressing similar views, Panchami Manoo Ukil, a noted nature photographer, said equal scope exists for male and female photographers. “But it is the quality which matters in this field. Having knowledge about the area of interest will be an add-on and help to succeed,” Panchami remarked.
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Despite being a housewife, Panchami pursued her interest and has been into amateur photography for past five years. She is a well known bird photographer and helping the State Forest department in documentation, research work and organising photography exhibition during Wildlife Week.
Panchami has been getting acclamation for contributing articles to international publications and organisations such as the Sanctuary Asia and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a unit of New York-based Cornell University.
As a bird photographer and nature observer, Panchami also featured in several TV channel programmes on birds like the one on Mangalajodi of Odisha.
Panchami is the first female bird watcher in the State who started a ‘bird walk’ for bird lovers to observe avian fauna in Bhubaneswar city and its outskirts.
Calling upon the youngsters to join nature photography, Panchami stated, “If the newcomers are ready to leave home and work in different projects, there is an ample scope to contribute to TV channels like Discovery or National GEO and get paid handsomely.”
However, she cautioned about the troubles of getting into the nature photography and said some ladies might find it difficult to carry camera and instruments while going for a two-three km walk on a forest path.
