Saving a life is more important than clicking photo: Italian lensman
LUCKNOW: Renowned Italian photographer Giacomo Pirozzi on Thursday rued declining ethics in photography, saying, “I will save somebody dying rather than click a photograph.” He was referring to situations which made an epic photograph but in which the subject’s life was in danger.
Pirozzi was here on Thursday t o attend a workshop on ‘Perspectives and Experiences of Photography Around Children of the World’ organized by the department of journalism and mass communication, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, here on Thursday.
Later in the evening, Pirozzi attended a function at the MB Club, a prelude to the three-day Lucknow Literature Carnival scheduled to start from November 27. Here the event was: “An evening with Mr Giacomo Pirozzi’.
Addressing students at BBAU, Pirozzi said: “Ethics in photography are fast declining.” He urged budding photographers to safeguard ethics in the larger interest of photography itself.
Expressing concern over declining morals in photography, Pirozzi stated that photographs were not as precious as a human life. “I would rather save a life rather than click a photograph”, said Pirozzi.
On been asked if he would prefer capturing monuments on his camera, Pirozzi called himself a people’s photographer. “Monuments bore me”, he said.
Replying to a student’s query, Pirozzi said: “It is not a tough task covering an emergency, conflicts and war like situations if ethics of humanity are followed”.
Niloufar Pourzand, UP head of UNICEF, who was also present on the occasion, spoke about the importance of photographs and advised students to maintain ethics while clicking photographs.
Prof Govind Ji Pandey, educationist and organizer of the workshop, said observation of external reality was more important than the camera.
Later at the MB Club, Pirozzi spoke about some of his most important photograph and about previous workshops he had organized in Lucknow in association with the UNICEF.
On the occasion, Pirozzi’s photographs on street children, orphans, child labourers, refugees, HIV positive people of Africa, war victims and malnourished children were showcased.
Earlier, a photography contest was organised on the theme ‘Luckknow in a Frame’. Out of over 200 entries, top five were selected by ace photographer Ajaish Jaiswal and Ravi Kapoor. Winners were awarded by Pirozzi.
Jayant Krishna, founder chairman, Lucknow Literature Carnival and Kanak Rekha Chauhan, director of the carnival, felicitated Pirozzi.