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Photographer Honey Sharma, GulfWeekly’s out-and-about lensman and videographer, recently returned from a trip back home to India and couldn’t keep away from his trusty camera during his vacation.
As well as visiting family and friends in and around Chandigarh, the capital of the northern Indian states of Punjab and Haryana designed by the Swiss-French modernist architect, Le Corbusier, he took his trusty Nikon on a trip around the area.
Le Corbusier’s buildings include the Capitol Complex with its High Court, Secretariat and Legislative Assembly, as well as the giant Open Hand Monument. The nearby Rock Garden is a park featuring sculptures made of stones, recycled ceramics and industrial relics.
Honey is more of a ‘people person’ when it comes to subject matter and simply adores capturing the expressions on faces whist people are at work or play, travelling or relaxing.
“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough to your subject matter in my opinion,” said the 30-year-old. “You need to feel it in your heart and capture the moment with the lens.”
Photography is very much in his blood. Honey studied at Jammu University and follows in the footsteps of his father, Dharmabal, 51, a renowned and highly-respected professional photographer.
“As a result I’ve been focused on this profession from the very earliest moment I can remember,” he said. “I’m passionate about photography and want to continue developing my abilities and improve every single day.”
He moved to Bahrain in 2011 to further enhance his photographic skills and join the vast Indian expatriate community living in the kingdom.
He was captured by GulfWeekly from a glossy magazine as he wanted to expand his knowledge into news photography. “To me, photography is simply an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting at a certain moment of time, often with ordinary people going about their everyday lives, and it’s always an added delight when they are doing extraordinary things like many of the subjects featured in this community newspaper,” he added.
“I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”
Clear examples are shown in the fascinating images he took on his trip back to India.
“I love the image of the train passenger sat by the emergency window which is open to allow the breeze to circulate inside the carriage,” said Honey.
“The lady with a cup of chai and the boys on a motorcycle are such typical scenes but, hopefully, I’ve captured the emotion and the ambience.”
Honey currently uses a Nikon D850 and is a holder of a Nikon Premium Member Card and regularly attends courses to improve his use of the equipment, sometimes travelling with other members to neighbouring Gulf States.
He took ‘1st place’ in the Capture the Dream photography competition staged by Ferrari and his images were selected and showcased in the Batelco Eye 2 initiative. This follows success in a national competition in Delhi after attending a workshop held by Rakesh Kalra, a highly-acclaimed Indian photographer.
GulfWeekly will also be sharing some of his images captured on a recent weekend trip to Oman in a future issue.
At the moment he is happy being GulfWeekly’s main man behind the lens but he hopes one day to continue his studies with the London School of Photography. “You’re never too old to learn new tricks,” he said.
