Arthotsav BTS: Photography Department

The shoot location is a calm and pristine park by the shores, the waves are gently lapping by the cement blocks, sunlight highlighting the sea foam. The Hospitality department standing in formation is the first sight that greets me as I enter the park, in their crisp white shirts and straight posture, they’re posing with a venerance not much unlike “bouncers”. My initial confusion passes away at hearing the shutter of a camera to my right where I see the photography department busy at their work, arranging the Hospitality department for the official photos. Two cameras, with the shutters going of back to back, one of them crouched in what seems to be an awkward position, the HoD signals to me, saying she’ll be with me in a minute or so. True to her word, she walks up to me, with another member trailing behind her. Tired and exhausted, she sits down on the ledge and proceeds to guzzle down water. The sunlight, despite the early morning and all the awkward positions have tired her out, she explains. “I’m Shravani, the head of the photography department.” In contrast to her loud and confident voice, Pratik introduces himself in a lower voice, a little more timid than her. Shravani is quick to explain the missing members- “Most of the members of the photography department are from the junior college, and well, so most of the photography department is not here, as the timings clash, because the kids have their college in the afternoon, and the photoshoots happen early in the morning, right from 7 a.m.”. Though there are only 5 people in the department, 3 of the photography department volunteers are from junior college, and Pratik is an ex-student. “I’ve been working for the photography department of Arthotsav, since 2015, when I first got a camera. I was actually unsure of whether I should participate in the fest or not, so I asked one of my friends, if I should enter. The only thing he asked me is- ‘Do you want to get famous in college?’ My reply was ‘Of course, yes’. So, I did it, and have been doing it since. I keep coming back for only this fest as the photographer, year after year, without fail. Even this year, I came only for Arthotsav, even though I passed out last year.”
 This immediately carries us into the next question, the usual suspect- “What does Arthotsav mean to you?” this time, Pratik takes the lead, joking around - now that the earlier formality has faded away- “Just so you know, I gave up my sleep so I could come for this photoshoot.” Jokes apart, it is obvious that Arthotsav means a lot to to the two sitting in front of me. To Pratik, like he’s said earlier, this is his home, and has been since 2015. Though he has left his third year now, he still feels an attachment to this particular fest, one he is sure will not fade. He says, “This year, the third years asked me to come shoot for the fest because my bond with arthotsav extends to them, but there is no guarantee that the third years from next year will call me back to shoot for arthotsav.” To Shravani, it’s a fame exponent- in the sense that, well, everybody knows who Shravani Patil is. It introduced her to Pratik, who has helped her learn a lot about photography in the past year: who by further extension, has introduced her to seniors in her chosen profession of photography- one where having such acquaintances is important to establish yourself. “Arthotsav gave me the power that I can do more now”, she half-jokingly exclaims. “Arthotsav taught me how to talk to people, how to build my patience- very important in both, managing the photography department, a fest and my career!” Gesturing to the secretary of the fest, Sanyukta, she laughs, “She is the very embodiment of patience itself! No, but seriously, last year’s Arthotsav taught me to keep my cool in the chaos, and Rohit (Phalke) taught me how to keep someone else calm, when you are stressed out yourself!” On what they contribute to Arthotsav, apart from the obvious photography skills, they say they fund the PR and social media departments with ‘proof’ of what goes on in the preparations for Arthotsav- “Because words aren’t enough these days, people need to see what is going on- people want to see ‘proof”, Shravani adds. Pratik pitches in, “We’re shooting BTS (behind the scenes) videos, which will be played on the last day after all the events in 2 science.” The purpose? “Well, other than the obvious documentation? Making the seniors all emotional and cry!” Asked to rename their department something quirky, Shravani says “please more people register” is her best try, while Pratik jokes that he still hasn’t found a fitting username for his Instagram page! ‘Fun Clicks and pose’ is what they can agree on, “because we’re all happy-go-lucky here”, Shravani jokes. Asking them what they would take a picture of, to depict their department in a single frame throws them for a loop. Pratik answers, saying, “A photo of all the volunteers from the department!”, “With all our fancy equipment, and the basic one around us!” Shravani pitches in. “With some cool edits, and we’re set!” Pratik is satisfied with that. But wait, if all their equipment is in the photo does that mean they’ll take the actual picture on a measly handphone? Shravani is quick to stop my train of thought right there. “Absolutely not, we’ll bring in another DSLR for that!”, she signs off.
-Photography Department in conversation with Miloni o., FYBA.