"Photography, to me, is like painting" -- Chanchal Mahmood

Chanchal Mahmood

Passion or profession, photography appeals to many in Bangladesh. However, the scenario was quite different just a decade or two ago. As it was an expensive medium and training opportunities were limited, it was challenging for aspiring photographers. Among those who have learnt the hard way is Chanchal Mahmood. Now an internationally known professional photographer, Chanchal Mahmood has bagged nearly 150 national and international awards for photography. Recently the photographer spoke to The Daily Star. Extracts from the conversation:
Mahmood began with his childhood memories. Moved by the character of Ishaan in the Bollywood film Taare Zamin Par that he has seen recently, the photographer said jokingly, "I wonder how Aamir Khan knew about my childhood. Indeed Ishaan represents many children whose talents and dreams are squashed by overbearing parents. Like Ishaan, I didn't want to study and was often punished by my teachers. On the other hand, no one could satiate my endless curiosity, exemplified by questions such as 'why on earth is the table called table and not chair.' I was not able to write an essay on 'My aim in life'...I wanted to be everything. I remember this one time I scored 12 out of 100 in math. My elder brother helped me change the number '1' into '7', so I don't get punished. He was more like a father to me -- my inspiration who died of cancer at an early age..." Mahmood drops the topic suddenly and starts again...
"I was fascinated by colours at an early age. Without any formal training, I used to draw a lot of portraits, human figures and so on. Thus painting became everything to me and I desperately wanted to be a painter. However, my father, 'the bureaucrat', could not deal with the fact that his son wanted to be an artist. I guess the so-called 'bohemian' image of a painter was responsible for his reluctance. I wanted to enrol in the Art College, so I intentionally did miserably at the admission tests at other colleges. That however didn't work and I was admitted in a well-reputed college under special arrangement."
How did he become a photographer? "With my own little -- not at all fancy -- camera, I used to take photos as a pastime. Though I could not study at the Art College, I used to spend a lot of time there. Looking at my photographs, artist Hashem Khan once said that I had a good eye for photography and that my work had the essence of painting/ art. My friend Afzal Hossain (noted actor and media personality) also encouraged me and I started to sending my photographs to various magazines and dailies.”
At that time when fashion magazines were not quite the rage, Mahmood joined a tabloid called Mooldhara that was quite popular among the youngsters. Quite a few actors and models who were making it big had their first professionally done shots by Mahmood. The list includes Shomi Kaiser, Nobel, Pallab, Tania, Sweety and so on.
Though he found his niche in fashion photography in Bangladesh, most of his international achievements have come courtesy photography in general. BBC aired an hour-long interview of Mahmood a few years back.
"As I said earlier, I had a deep inclination towards painting. Throughout my career in photography, I realised that photography is very much like painting. You have to choose the subject, observe it carefully and find the right sequence from the right angle. You have to have an artist's eye to choose the perfect light in order to get the perfect colour and texture in your photograph. In that sense, I consider myself an artist."
The photographer bemoans the lack of a supportive culture for photographers in the country, "In many other countries, photography is included in the educational institutes as an independent subject. However, we don't have this opportunity in Bangladesh yet," he concluded.