RK : Say something about you.
Ranjan : My self Ranjan Simkhada ,i am from Goruduba, a small village of Assam . I completed 12th then I went to college for B.Sc bt because of my passion that is photography I dropped out and came here in Delhi in 2016 .So i have a small family of 4 members including me ,my father, mother and sister .my hobby is traveling and Exploring new places and take pictures and filming all Those stuff what i love to do.
RK : What are your favourite genres of Photography?
Ranjan : Ahh basically i love to shoot everything in photography but mostly i love shoot with different perspective in street, landscape , cityscape, architecture all those stuff.
RK : Was there anything specific that you can remember that made you want to become a photographer?
Ranjan : Yeah when i was in college ,parents was always told me do apply for gov. job n’ all, but literally i don't want that Monday to Saturday routine and doing a job for permanent so i thought what should i do and because of my family background is not good as well so i have lots of responsibilities so i need money. so there was a river ,its 1 km far from my home i always went there and i saw the sunset and sunrise and i can feel that vibes and doing captured through my Phone ..that’s the things ,that’s the river ,that vibes, that sunset, sunrise those things made me to become a photographer .
RK : What was the first camera that you received?
Ranjan : My first camera was a Nikon D3300 which i bought in 2016 August .
RK : What camera & equipment do you use now?
Ranjan : Now i am Using Nikon D810 body ,24-120 mm f4 lens , 50 mm 1.8 lens , + using a OnePlus 5t phone , I use digitech Flash + Magnet mood starter kit , manfroto mini tripod , Joby gorillapod , hako mic pro , a 2 TB wd hardrive for for my back up , 2 of 32 gb memory cards, 2 uv filters, a hp leptop for editing video and photos that’s all.
RK : If you were told that you could only keep one camera and lens combination, what would it be?
Ranjan : Nikon d810 and sigma 35 mm prime lens .
RK : Among your works, which one is your favourite? Why?
Ranjan : My favourite shot is that red metro, i captured that shot with different perspective and also i take this picture when there was raining and its featured in all over India through Instagram and also a Indian person from Sidney he want to make a big frame and put on his bedroom so I’ll give him , that’s all the love i got from this picture was just insane that's why that picture is always fav.
RK : What does ‘street photography’ mean to you?
Ranjan : Street photography means all the activities ,story , expression , emotions where we can captured in street that’s called street photography but i am not good in captured story so i used street , elements and I create a picture through my thought .
RK : What do you want your viewers to take away from your work?
Ranjan : Inspiration.
RK : How does Black and White Vs Colour play into your work? Do you find them to be totally separate beasts—or complementary?
Ranjan : I love colors and i never capture a B&W or Converting to B&W but there is personal choice for every artist and their own visionary ,some Artist love B&W and some love colour .
RK : You have done a lot of mobile photography. How did you become interested in mobile photography and at what point did it become more than a hobby?
Ranjan : I started photography with a Lava v5 phone but the phone camera was not good so i buy a dslr but this year 2018 i started when i bought One plus 5 t phone and use its camera and extremely happy with the camera and yeah its easy to shoot quickly but there is limitations for phone camera but also so many things only we can with phone camera not even dslr also yeah now i am addicted to phone cameras . I think OnePlus camera is the point to become more than hobby .
RK : It seems like most people still don’t take mobile photography too seriously. What’s your opinion?
Ranjan : Yeah see again there is personal choice and there is a limitation on phone camera so we can't compare with dslr that's why some people don't take it seriously .
RK : Who are some of your favourite classic photographers, and how did they influence you?
Ranjan : There are so many photographers who inspire me through there work , editing style , how capture Better story but my 1st fav. Photographer is my mentor Shajahan khan , when i don't know anything about photography he teach me ..so yeah he is always my first guru , inspiration all of that.
RK : What is your approach with the camera when you find yourself photographing strangers on the street?
Ranjan : I got 2 years experience with my camera so i am very comfortable with the camera so when i shoot strangers in the street ,at I just go and talk to them most of time i make some joke the people were laughing and i take the shot .
RK : When you are shooting, do you have an image in your mind? Do you build the final photo before shooting it or are your images also a result of a post-production phase?
Ranjan : Sometimes i already have a theme in my mind that what i am going shoot today but sometimes i got the right shot when i was shooting to here and there but suddenly i got the right frame, right composition on my mind so yeah and some images need to process to looks more interesting
.
RK : Do you have any tips for photographers to help them grow artistically?
Ranjan : I recommend to shoot as much as possible like daily you have to shoot ,when you have no work and please keep your camera and open the settings and try to find out what is the you don’t try , experiment is the important .you have to experiment more and more with new ideas , watch different artist work ,so many things we can learn from others .
RK : We (Retro Kolkata) are trying to make a bridge between National and International Art & Culture By featuring some National & International personalities who already have made their own path in their respective fields and we think your story and tips might help the newcomers to build their career. Please say something about our initiative and any special message for your followers.
Ranjan : Retro Kolkata doing such a great job.Guys i just want to tell you practice and patience is the most important thing photography ,keep capturing , whatever you saw, whatever gear no matter just Capture.
Follow Ranjan Simkhada on Instagram
