Shahidul Alam, on why he thinks India?s photography movement hasn?t taken off yet
BY Ronny Sen EMAIL AUTHOR(S)
![?I had such a big influence on the community at large that there was a tendency [towards] cloning, the classical black-and-white documentary approach to photography, beautifully composed perhaps, but in a predictable way, in a I-have- seen-it-before way? (Photo: RONNY SEN)](http://www.openthemagazine.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/435by290/article_images/10768.alamp.jpg "?I had such a big influence on the community at large that there was a tendency [towards] cloning, the classical black-and-white documentary approach to photography, beautifully composed perhaps, but in a predictable way, in a I-have- seen-it-before way? (Photo: RONNY SEN)")
?I had such a big influence on the community at large that there was a tendency [towards] cloning, the classical black-and-white documentary approach to photography, beautifully composed perhaps, but in a predictable way, in a I-have- seen-it-before way? (Photo: RONNY SEN)
In the world of photography, Shahidul Alam needs no introduction. He started as a photographer of children, and went on to make a substantial contribution to the medium and its practice not just in his country, Bangladesh, but in the Subcontinent. He set up a photography school, Pathshala, in conjunction with the World Press Photo educational initiative. And he was instrumental in starting Asia?s very first photo festival, Chobi Mela, which attracts the world?s top professionals. In this conversation, he tells Open why the Indian photography movement lags others?, and how Bangladeshi photographers have finally quit cloning his work. Continue reading “The Empty Frame”