Tech opens window into past
Here are the top tips for taking unforgettable holiday photos.
Growing up, Guneeta Singh Bhalla heard her grandmother describe how she crossed into newly-independent india from Pakistan in 1947 with her young children, witnessing horrific scenes of carnage and violence that haunted her for the rest of her life.
Those stories were not in Singh Bhalla’s school text books, so she decided to create an online history – The 1947 Partition Archive, which contains about 10,500 oral histories, the biggest collection of Partition memories in South Asia.
“I didn’t want my grandmother’s story to be forgotten, nor the stories of others who experienced Partition,” said Singh Bhalla, who moved to the United States from india at age 10.
“with all its faults, Facebook is an incredibly powerful tool: the archive was built off of people finding us on Facebook and sharing our posts, which brought much more awareness,” she said.
The partition of colonial india into two countries, mainly Hindu india and mostly Muslim Pakistan, at the end of British rule triggered one of the biggest mass migrations in history.
About 15 million Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs swapped countries in the political upheaval, marred by violence and bloodshed that cost more than a million lives.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since then, and relations remain tense.
They rarely grant visas to each other’s citizens, making visits nearly impossible – but social media has helped people on either side of the border connect.
There are dozens of groups on Facebook and instagram, as well as Youtube channels that tell the stories of Partition survivors and their occasional visits to ancestral homes, that rack up millions of shares and views, and emotional comments.
“Such initiatives that help document the experiences of Partition serve as an antidote to the charged political narratives of the two sides,” said Ayesha Jalal, a South Asian history professor at Tufts University in the United States.
“They help to alleviate the tensions between the two sides, and open up channels for much needed people-to-people dialogue.”
Reconnecting from afar
As the numbers of those displaced from their homes have swelled worldwide, technology helps monitor abandoned homes from afar and records human rights abuses, while digital archives preserve cultural heritage.
Project Dastaan – meaning story in Urdu – uses virtual reality (Vr) to document the accounts of Partition survivors and enable them to revisit their place of birth.
“Vr isn’t like film – there is a level of immersion and engagement that creates empathy and has a powerful impact,” said founder Sparsh Ahuja, whose grandfather migrated to india as a seven-year-old during the Partition.
“People really feel like they are transported to the place.”
Using volunteers in india and Pakistan to locate and film places – which have often changed dramatically over the decades – Project Dastaan had aimed to connect 75 Partition survivors with their ancestral homes by the 75th anniversary this year.
But pandemic restrictions meant that they only completed 30 interviews since they began filming in 2019, said Ahuja.
“When visa policies were more friendly, people could physically go and see places and people,” he said.
“Now, these connections wouldn’t happen without technology, and Vr has brought a whole new audience to the Partition experience.”
Among the most popular Youtube channels on Partition is Punjabi Lehar – or Punjabi wave – with about 600,000 subscribers.
Founder Lovely Singh, 30, part of the minority Sikh community in Pakistan, estimates that the channel has helped 200 to 300 individuals reconnect with family and friends.
Earlier this year, Punjabi Lehar’s video of an emotional reunion between two elderly brothers separated during Partition quickly went viral, drawing widespread praise.
“If we can help connect more people, maybe there will be less tension between the two countries,” said Singh.
“This is how my children are learning about the Partition.”
Tensions in the digital world
India and Pakistan are among the biggest social media markets in the world, with more than 500 million Youtube and nearly 300 million Facebook users, according to research firms Global Media insight and Statista.
History professor Jalal noted that these online spaces can also host misinformation, and added a note of caution about the limits of social media projects.
“While immensely useful, these initiatives surrounding the Partition should not be seen as a replacement for historical understandings of the causes of Partition,” she said.
Political tensions between india and Pakistan frequently spill over onto social media.
Last year, one indian state said people who celebrated Pakistan’s win over india in a cricket match on social media could be charged with sedition, which carries a penalty of up to life in prison.
Indians who criticise the government online are often told to “go to Pakistan”.
But for 90-year-old reena Varma, social media has done more than make a virtual connection – it has enabled her to visit her old home in rawalpindi 75 years after she left it.
When her Pakistan visa application was rejected earlier this year, the news went viral on Facebook. Pakistani authorities intervened to give a visa to Varma, who migrated to india as a teenager weeks before the Partition.
When Varma visited Pakistan last month, imran william, founder of the Facebook group The india Pakistan Heritage, was on hand to welcome her.
Residents beat drums and showered her with flowers as she danced on the street, then looked around her old home.
“It was very emotional, but i am so happy i could fulfil my dream of visiting my home,” Varma said.
“People have very painful memories of the Partition, but thanks to Facebook and other social media, people are interacting and keen to meet each other. it brings people of both countries together.” – Thomson reuters Foundation
WE all love to take holiday snapshots, but often they don’t turn out as well as we’d have liked. Fortunately, the professionals have some tips on how to get that perfect holiday photo that you’ll love to look at for years to come. One of the most important steps on the road to photographic success is to actually think about what you want to capture. “The biggest mistake you can make as a photographer is simply snapping instead of taking pictures,” says Sebastian Ritter of online travel magazine 22places. Discovering a subject and then pointing a camera at it doesn’t guarantee a great photo.
“That’s how you get pictures that are boring and don’t leave an impression,” says Ritter, a passionate travel photographer.
Instead, you should pause for a moment and consider how and with what focus you can best capture the subject.
Aim for something unique
Photographer Charlott Tornow, who works for another industry magazine, also knows that a good vacation photo takes work.
“You should ask yourself: What is my unique perspective on the world? What do I want to show people? And then you have to go looking for it,” she says, adding that a great picture is rarely the result of a coincidence.
You should also think about the story you want to tell with your photos. During a stay in Rome, for example, you could capture how the locals live and photograph them going about their everyday lives.
“Something very mundane can look super interesting if I think about the story behind it beforehand,” Tornow says.
“The most beautiful photos are those that reflect a mood, evoke emotions in me, and raise questions.”
The key is to not photograph the same things as everyone else. Even so, a classic and perhaps over-familiar subject can be made interesting if you use a different angle or perspective.
For example, in Rome, you could photograph people throwing coins into the Trevi Fountain instead of just capturing the fountain itself, as in millions of other tourist snaps.
Off the beaten track
Ritter recommends leaving the tourist trails to find exciting and beautiful photographic subjects: “Of course, the famous sights must not be missed, but the interesting pictures are often taken elsewhere.”
However, even the most authentic motif looks boring if it’s poorly staged, for example, right in the centre of the picture.
That’s why image composition is very important. “A simple trick is the rule of thirds,” explains Ritter.
According to this principle, the scene to be photographed is divided into a grid of nine equal parts by two horizontal and two vertical lines.
Then the main element in the photo is positioned along these lines or at the intersections.
Many smartphones and cameras can display such a grid over the camera view.
And then there’s the crucial aspect of light. The best time for photography is usually during the blue and golden hours – shortly before and after sunset, Ritter explains.
The same is true for sunrise: “Early risers also have the advantage of being able to photograph all by themselves in otherwise crowded places.”
Angles and frames
In cities, you can play with perspective by aligning the camera with the lines between the rows of buildings. Experiments with frog’s eye or bird’s eye views also yield interesting results.
You can also make subjects stand out by giving them a frame.
“Instead of just photographing the Eiffel Tower from my hotel window, I take a few steps back and shoot the Eiffel Tower in the window frame,” Tornow explains.
She advises taking inspiration from other photographers’ work: “If I really like a photo, I always analyse why that is and then try to recreate that.”