Throughout the human history, we always had this need, this desire to capture moments. The evidence in its earliest forms leads us right to the cave paintings. I remember reading that the earliest cave paintings were 30,000 years old, and similar to the one shown on the left. This impression, simplest one is called hand stencil. Considered of a child who placed the hand on the wall and sprayed some natural color with the mouth. I think after all these years its still beautiful. With the advent of newer tools, right from various painting methods to sculpturing, we humans have continued with our desire of capturing life and its environment. The mona lisa, the creation of man, the thinker. Its because of this burning desire that we now capture using our photo/video camera. But the path for success of cameras was not an easy one. Numerous experiments, and after many trials, and transformation have we reached the level we attain today. Digital camera makes its simpler/faster for photographs to be clicked and processed now.
I first got the feel of a camera when my dad got himself a film based slr camera (don’t call it analog camera). I did use it some 2-3 times but was too young to comprehend it. The easier kodak camera “click and shoot” (Just to add kodak was the first to market cheap cameras for the masses) was soon a new toy in my hands, but it was not that I tried to be good at it, I mean I used to click away to glory to the irritation of my friends, and wait for the film to be developed after I gave it to the photo studio, which earlier used to take days to process. My first digital camera was the canon ixus one which I still have and lend it to friends and family as and when they need it. Digital cameras really did the trick. One could review snaps immediately after clicking and take another shot if it was not correct (without worrying about the film cost). The dependence on photo studios to generate your snaps was no longer a requirement as one could download it easily on a computer. This is where truly I started picking up interest and liking for clicking snaps. Soon, I was more interested in a proper digital SLR camera to control things which I could not in a normal compact camera like canon ixus. I picked up a Canon 400D after reading great reviews about it, and since then I have never stopped learning.
Its something that takes my mind off work, and something I am slowly growing passionate about. Everyone in life should have a passion for something, and I think slowly photography is the one I choose. Its not my profession, but my hobby (an expensive hobby I might add, the desire to buy a new lens, or an addon is never ending) something I tend to take serious.
Among the photographers I admire, I love the work of American photographer “Annie Leibovitz”, just do a google image search and you will see some amazing results. I especially love the the one she clicked of John Lennon and Yoko Ono for the Rolling stones cover, where Lennon curls up against and clings a seemingly cold Yoko. A real powerful snaps, which talks to you when you look at it. 5 hours later Lennon was shot dead.
I chose the name footwa when I was joking with Neelam that a good photography website should probably have a cool name like footwa, explaining her that in villages thats how some would pronounce it, not photo but “footwa kheech lo”, “click a photo”. She laughed and told me I was crazy and what a horrible name it was for a photography website. (horrible name…? hmm, well perhaps. I wanted to name my dog “Virus” at one point). Just for the fun factor, I registered the domain and uploaded few snaps and gave her a call.. and thats how www.footwa.com was born. Its now a place where I upload snaps which have a meaning in my life, have a story behind. Its more for me then for anyone else. Its where I gather my thoughts and express the way I see it through my lens, and although I have very few visitors (evident from the low comments) I love it! I love clicking portraits, and clicking travel related snaps, and I see an improvement every time I upload a newer set of images.
So in the end what footwa is all about. Well nothing specific, a small photography blog site like the endless others you will find across the Internet, maintained by me, and perhaps I am the only visitor.