If you’re walking on the streets of Pune,
and two girls happen to walk up to you with their dSLRs for a photograph and a
short interview, you could identify them as the ones behind Humans of Pune
(HOP). Nayanika Chatterjee and Isha Chitnis are studying in Fergusson College,
Pune. With Mukta Joshi, student of National Law School, Bangalore, the two
nineteen year olds have decided to pay a tribute to the infamous ‘Humans of New
York’ that has gone viral on social media since last year.
Humans Of New York (HONY) is the brainchild
of Brannon Stanton, a self taught photographer from Atlanta, USA. He has
gathered about 6,000 portraits of people in New York, and uploaded them on
social media, with short paragraphs about each person he photographs. HONY is
the bestselling book and photo-blog, featuring street portraits and interviews
collected in New York City.
Humans Of Pune, is a tribute to HONY.
Inspired by the aim of ‘New York City, one story at a time,’ the ones behind
the project in Pune hope to take ‘one street portrait at a time’. They explore the city, and meet different
people; from all walks of life, interact with them and tell the city their
story through social media. Enthused by HONY, it’s their way of bringing the
people of Pune together.
From left to right:
Mukta Joshi, Isha Chitnis and Nayanika Chatterjee
Kicking off
Mukta, 18, was moved by the concept of HONY.
She decided to pay her own little tribute to the photo blog, by starting
‘Humans of Pune’ in 2013. “I’m a huge introvert so I have trouble talking to
strangers. I uploaded photographs without captions earlier, and that defeated
the purpose of it,” says the demure student, who admits to be moving towards
extroversion because of HOP. Nayanika and Isha joined in much later, in April
2014. Since then, the page has been more active.
Photography is their hobby, and these three
self-taught photographers make a good team when it comes to approaching people
and clicking them. Nayanika, the extroverted young Army-bred student says,
“Most of the people speak in Marathi. Since Isha has lived here most of her
life, she does the translation. Any one of us clicks the photograph. It’s all
coordinated well that way.” Nayanika and Isha have their own Facebook
photography pages; while one hopes to sustain this as a hobby, Isha wants to
pursue it further, and become a photo journalist.
The Awkward Moment when...
"My girlfriend had called me one day
to see a house she had just shifted to. I reached the house as fast as i could.
But suddenly, the doorbell rang and her parents came in. My girlfriend had to
get rid of me. So I jumped off the balcony, from the second floor."
"How hurt were you after that?"
"I have an iron rod fixed in my leg
now."
"And how is your girlfriend?"
"She broke up with me..Its been a
while now."
More than approaching unfamiliar faces,
it’s their reaction that is a major hurdle for the girls. The second year
student of BA Politics, Nayanika says, “People walk away, they give a blatant
‘no’, or shy away when we ask them for a photograph; even if we approach them
in the language that we think they will be comfortable with. Some of the boys
on the street pass comments at us, and that’s just absurd!”
Apart from that, the girls have noticed
that it’s difficult for people who don’t use the internet to understand their
concept. While many who aren’t familiar with social media give them hostile
glances, others like the concept but don’t wish to be seen by the people in the
city on Facebook and Twitter! Isha laughs, “We approach so many couples to ask
them more about their relationship, but they don’t want to be clicked because
their parents or relatives could see it!”
That’s their biggest challenge, but
they hope to overcome it by familiarising people in the city with the concept
of HOP. Their efforts begin at home, where the young enthusiasts have got their
parents to follow HONY on Facebook. Nayanika says, “I made my mother like HONY,
and then our page. I explained the concept. Now even she loves it!” The young
photographer’s parents are proud of their daughter’s photography skills, and
the fact that she meets new people and interacts with them while she’s at it.
Being a Mini-Celebrity
From left to right:
Simone Noronha, Aarjavee Soni
"She's too unpredictable. One day, for
no reason at all, she splashed ketchup all over my hair."
"She's always right. Which is really
annoying at times. Probably that's why we're best friends."
Simone Noronha, a student who was
photographed by HOP says, “My friend and I were casually walking out of class
one day when we saw two girls with DSLRs pass by; as they made eye contact we
sort of knew what was coming...” Simone speaks about how it was completely
natural, and the conversation with Nayanika and Isha was delightful. “It feels
nice to have these memories documented. And of course, who in this city
wouldn’t like to feature on Humans of Pune?” smiles Simone.
The
girls behind their cameras...
When the photographers aren’t walking
around for hours on end, discovering the city and its secrets, and capturing the
very essence of it, the three absolutely love travelling. Isha makes impulsive
trips to places like Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Ajanta and Ellora. The second
year BA German student says, “These impulsive trips are usually with my mother,
since she loves last-minute trips. I even went to Sri Lanka with her once, and
the holiday was planned only a week beforehand.” The talented student also
makes surreal graphic designs in her free time, and enjoys swimming thoroughly.
Nayanika on the other hand is a young swimmer
as well. The student’s quite a talent; she loves to sing and is learning the
classical guitar with trinity currently. Mukta is now a first year student at
National Law School, Bengaluru with an all India rank of 23 in CLAT. She has
handed over the page to the two ambitious youngsters. When the talented young
scholar isn’t clicking, she likes to read creative non-fiction, watch
alternative cinema and discuss politics.
Wishful Thinking
The three girls are in admiration of
Brandon Stanton. They observe the composition of is portraits, and try to
recreate something similar, yet innovative. While in a lively discussion about
the technicalities of his photography; Isha exclaims, “What if he ever sees our
page!” An aspiring photojournalist, Isha is energetic, and enthusiastic about
making HOP bigger. She discloses that it is easier for them to concentrate on
this goal since their college hours are 7.30-11.30am.
HOP Adventures
"What was the happiest moment of your
life?"
"When I climbed the tallest peaks of
the Alps."
“We go to a lot of places where we’re not
supposed to,” chuckles Nayanika, while talking about the thrilling adventures
they’ve had while trying to get some photographs. The girls get their kick from
travelling and knowing new people. Nayanika and Isha recollected an incident where
they were clicking a portrait in the midst of city traffic- with people,
vehicles, and animals. “Nayanika was dodging all the traffic and the animals,
but I wanted that perfect shot of those kids. So while I was making my best
attempt at trying to get it right, I feel something gooey along my sling bag
and hand. A cow licked me!” exclaims the lively young student.
The photographers, who often undertake
impulsive travels aren’t always equipped with their cameras, to their
disappointment. Mukta talks about her travel tales, where she meets a number of
new people, “Everyone has such beautiful stories to tell. All that goes on in
my head while I’m listening, is “Why didn’t I carry my camera?!” While the
three girls have had some extraordinary experiences while interviewing people
on the streets of Pune, they recall a memorable incident. Nayanika says, “We
decided to photograph a girl in Koregaon Park. She forced us to show her the
picture we took, and made us click a number of them in different poses. After
that, she took our numbers and email ids. In the evening, I got a call saying
“Hey, please could you send the photographs to me? I’ll select one and you
could upload it.” Isha adds, “Of course we didn’t.”
The journey so far...
Isha: "What if Brandon ever sees our
page!"
Nayanika: "Oh my god yes!"
Mukta: "That day will be the best day
of our lives!"
The journey of working on approximately 120
portraits for HOP has been enlightening for the girls. Mukta, an aspiring
lawyer, says, “The biggest learning I’ve received from HOP is to never judge a
person by their looks. I mean, seriously. You may think someone isn’t approachable,
but you get some of the best stories from them.” Adding to Mukta, Nayanika
says, “It has also taught us all a lot about patience. People take time to open
up since we’re strangers to them, and if we show that we’re in a hurry, we’ll
miss out on some of the best stories.”
The young student spoke about a boy with a
fractured leg they had photographed. “It was only after half an hour that we
got to know that he broke his leg because he jumped off the first floor of his
girlfriend’s new house when her parents entered. But the best part was that
when we asked him about the girlfriend, he casually told us that they had
broken up!” laughs Isha.
You can find links to the portraits by HOP
here: 1. http://on.fb.me/1k8mCf4
2. http://on.fb.me/1n4RNY0
3. http://on.fb.me/1p7zIYN
The updated edited article has been
published in Pune Mirror: http://bit.ly/1pvyoxs
No comments:
Post a Comment