Important Photos

This is Pankaj Chowdhury, my father’s photo buddy and best friend for over thirty-six years. They first became friends when they picked up photography as a serious hobby and enrolled at a local college for a photography course. I was around six years old then. To my father he was a brother, as close if not closer than his actual brothers, always there in times of need. I called him Kakai: an endearing term for uncle. Kakai passed away earlier this week after a sudden illness. Since he was a photographer himself, he was always behind the camera. Consequently, ironically, and unfortunately there are no good photos of him. I took this photo when I was in India last year. He was telling a story and I took this casual, candid photo. Now, it is the only photo of him taken in many years. This was a difficult post for me to write and I cancelled it several times but finally decided to publish it.

Everything is transient and impermanent. The only important photos are the ones we take of important people in our lives. And yes, for a photographer, “selfies” or self-portraits can be important.