‘Don’t get bogged down by ‘what camera you’re using’

Omer Sidat is a management professional and a textile technologist, pursuing a career in textiles. His only other passion is photography, and if it were not for textiles, he would have been pursuing a full-time career in photography.
Sidat said, “I started photography with a Minolta 110 camera, received as a gift from my mother on my 12th birthday.” That was 33 years ago, and he has come a long way since. Up until a decade ago, he was shooting with film. When he moved to digital, he initially opted for a basic point-and-shoot, which was “a quicker way of seeing composition results.” Around 2001 or so, he was still shooting film, but most of his imaging had switched to digital. Another year or so later, he completely moved from film to digital. “Over the years, photography for me has turned into a very serious passion and a way of expressing my point of view.”
His ideal headshot would be of “a young child, with an innocent face and eyes full of inquisitiveness.” This would only be rivalled by a head shot of “an extremely old person, with blurry eyes and wrinkles on his/her face, telling a story of a long forgotten lifetime.”
Sidat has been a dreamer since childhood. He has always been attracted to things that could allow him to express his thoughts through creativity. As a teenager, besides photography, he would spend a lot of time making and breaking things. He used to carve things out of pieces of wood, primarily, different types of daggers and knives, having developed a liking for martial arts in that phase of life. During his college days, he used to write poetry, initially in English, but he later turned to full-time Urdu poetry. He was inspired by Sadequain and used to do calligraphy of verses from the holy Quran. “All in all, I was always attracted to different forms of creative expression.”
His academic background is not related to any form of creative arts. He did his Bachelors in Commerce, followed by a Masters in Business Administration with focus on Strategic Management. During his academic years, the only area where he could express his creativity was through writing, or through projects pertaining to marketing or business presentations. “Photography for me has been a self-taught art, and I’ve continued to do photography without referring to any educational literature until recently. The internet has opened a tremendous opportunity to expand my learning and refine my techniques.”
Primarily, Sidat finds himself attracted more to the “classic, old-school approach.” However, given the way modern-day photography is evolving, he realised that his personal photography style keeps changing drastically, “from contemporary to retro and back, even within one specific series of work.” In all fairness, his style is “highly dependent on the subject I am shooting, the situation or location I might be at, the storyline or concept behind a particular project, as well as on the end use of the work that I need to do.”
Sometimes, he finds his subjects himself, whereas on many other occasions, his subjects find him, “popping out of nowhere.” His insect macro shots are often unplanned, as “these critters appear and disappear at their own free will, with very little a photographer can control.” On the other hand, any landscapes that he does are “50 percent pre-planned and 50 percent spur-of-the-moment shots.” His portraits are mostly pre-planned, “at least from my point of view and preparation, even if they fall into the genres of street photography or candid. Studio portraits are much more planned, with additional emphasis on artificial lighting and backdrops, etc.”
When asked if he has ever offended anyone, Sidat said, “Offended a macro subject? I dare not! I certainly do not want to be hospitalised due to poisonous insect venom… But jokes apart, I honestly do not recall any instance where my photography may have offended a human subject. Perhaps the reason behind it is that I almost always seek permission from the subject before photographing. On a few occasions where I have taken candid shots, the subject is usually unaware, so chances of getting offended are eliminated.”
On most planned shoots or photo trips, he always carries multiple cameras. However, if it is a casual outing where photography may not be his major objective and would be a side venture, “then usually one camera would suffice.”
He takes inspiration from everyone, be it a senior, a colleague or a younger photo enthusiast. “However, there are a few people who have definitely influenced the way I photograph or the way I present my creations. One such person is Lee Jeffries, one of the masters of modern-day dynamic portrait photography. Other artists/photographers who have influenced my work include Linden Gledhill, Nikola Rahme and Patrick Smith.”
Sidat usually works on multiple projects at a time. Last year, he had done a photo-story on child labour. This year, he is planning to expand on that story, with more emphasis on seeking to learn further about the background of each child that he photographs. “I am also expanding and working on a project that I had done earlier, and where I would be creating photographic images with painterly effects within a single exposure, without using any digital manipulation or Photoshop treatment. Aside from that, my usual macro photo adventures continue and are typically dependent on when a critter presents itself to get photographed. However, I am specifically planning on doing an extreme macro high magnification project, which would exceed and go beyond 5:1 life-size all the way to 20:1 life-size.”
Talking about his motivation, he said that the closer he gets to his subjects, the more amazed he gets and understands God’s detailed creations. His interest persists, as he wants to see more closely, explore and understand this world, which is “almost invisible to the human eye.”
When asked if it’s a good sign that every young person with a camera these days wants to become a photographer, Sidat said, “I think that it’s a good thing. This way, youngsters find a good, creative outlet. Every one of these amateurs would definitely not grow up to adopt photography as a profession or as a serious hobby, but those who would be passionate and determined about this field of creative expression would automatically excel.”
For aspiring photographers, he said, “First and foremost, a good photographer would be able to utilise an average camera to make great compositions. On the contrary, a bad photographer, even with the highest rated camera equipment, would only be able to take average or below average photographs. Don’t get bogged down by what camera you’re using. Learn to use what you have to convert your vision to photo composition. Secondly, I firmly believe in the three P’s of photography: Passion, Patience and Perseverance. With appropriate use of these three P’s, one does not have a reason to not succeed.”