"Being in the Moment" - A talk on photography

I was lucky enough to witness a great talk on photography delivered by Mr. Sudhir Ramachandran.  Just to give an idea of his credentials, he was once the Asian Ambassador to the World Council of Professional Photographers (WCPP).
The talk was part of an exhibition on Contemporary Photography organised by National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA, Blr) and Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
Sudhir started his presentation by saying it's been more than a decade since he gave a talk on photography. And a lot have changed during the time. Many of the pictures he showed was part of his personal collection which have not been shown anywhere else(!).

His talk was not about the skills required or the techniques used, it was much beyond photography. According to him,its all about  awareness, alertness,attention to the environment around you. Once you immerse yourself in the scene, the picture will capture itself.
I will try my best to give a capsule version of his photo philosophy.

1. You see a scene..
2. A lot of thoughts cross in your mind from various places
3. A lot of emotions cross in your mind from different angles
4. Your minds slows down and becomes part of the scene
5. Things become much more clear now
6. Your thoughts, ideas begins to align
7. You see the details, the action,the balance, the mood of the scene.
8. You know something special is going to happen
9. You wait for everything to fall in place
10. And when it does , you know you are in the moment and you just click it.

That is called "being in the moment"

Now you may wonder, how do we know something special is going to happen?
Sudhir says "In life, every moment is special, every second there is an emotion, a feeling that is waiting to be captured and preserved. In today's world of digital photography and camera mobiles anyone can be a photographer. you just have to be open to see it"

Photography is nothing but

immobilizing the equilibrium in this perpetual motion,called

L I F E

-Sudhir Ramachandran