Call to capture milieu along with subject

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: ‘’When photographing children in vulnerable situations, absorbing the milieu of the subject properly into the frame is of paramount importance,” said filmmaker R R Srinivasan.He was making a presentation on ‘Role of Photo Journalists in Protecting Child Rights’ as part of the workshop on ‘Millennium Development Goals: Sensitising Journalists to issues concerning children’ conducted by the Press Institute of India in association with UNICEF here on Thursday. “Situations do have importance while photographing children in vulnerable situations. Eminent photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson  had this innate ability to capture the environment when photographing children in conflict situations.A photographer who purposefully captures such an environment along with the subject can convey the true meaning of the situation,’’ he said.These days, he said, photographers try to describe the subject in detail than the environment. He underscored the impact of the iconic image of the screaming girl who was running during the Vietnam war which portrayed the severity of war-torn Vietnam.Due to possible repercussions, photographing a child in a vulnerable situation is prohibited. So in such contexts, photographers often tend to resort photographing the subject without revealing the identity of the child to avoid further  discrimination from society. If they are caught on camera, it would be a realistic document of evidence, but it is also something that is prohibited, he added.He opined that a photographer must possess the innocent mind of a child when photographing them. They must live in the present without bothering about past or future. In such moments, photography should emerge straight from the heart rather than as a mere a technical endeavour. Bresson is considered a great artist in photographing children. His works on children in conflicting situations was remarkable, Srinivasan said. The workshop will conclude on Friday.