Expressions from an Artist

Rafique stumbled upon photography more by chance than choice. He has gone from shooting professional fashion models to portraits of real people, nature, still life, even cars and hotels. Rafique Sayed speaks to Asian photography about his experience as a photographer.

It is a cliché to say that time changes everything, and sometimes it changes completely all that you hold dear. Photographers of today will never understand the joy of shooting film. It called for experience and technical excellence; the visualisation of an image before capturing it on film, waiting for the right light, framing and composition. The nervous wait when the film went for processing, and then the thrill of getting a contact sheet in your hands.

Soon came the digital cameras and no one anticipated its ‘invasion’, or expected them to be so complete. Polaroid, all kinds of film and processing, Darkrooms and photo-labs vanished practically overnight.

With the push of a button the image was live in front of you. I admit that I was shaken by this medium. The digital camera was in my hands, but there was hardly anyone to guide or explain its use. The first one had many inadequacies and to begin with, they were slow. They didn’t function in extreme climates. No one told us all this and ‘one lived and learned’.

It all changed very swiftly. Pre-visualisation changed to post production. Technology became the master and the camera, nonetheless, was a tool. I accepted the new reality as change is the only constant thing in life. Life is moving on right now, as we speak!

As a photographer, I don’t have a specific genre or style that I shoot; it is to be judged by the people. I have explored across genres and there is no specific style that I prefer over others. The most important thing is to have a graphic sense in all the photographs. I have gone through almost all kinds of genres, except wildlife and landscape. I concentrate much more on fine art photography, be it portrait, fashion or nudes etc. It is a journey for me, and I am passionate about what I do. Passion is what drives my photographs and I like to explore a lot.

With the introduction of the Sony Alpha 7 series, I was nervous about using small cameras. However, once I started shooting with them, my nervousness turned into confidence. I enjoyed shooting with the A7R and especially love the black & white image. The contrast is magical without the use of Photoshop. I really felt that my days of film are back.

Then came Sony A7M2. This is the first and only camera where vibrations disappear in full frame sensor with the help of 5-Axis image stabilisation. Simply amazing! One is always worried about shake in digital images. When pixel size is small in high mega pixel cameras then chances of shake is huge. Here is a camera you can use without worrying about such technical problems. The camera simply resolves the problem. With Sony I breathe easy.