Wide angle lens

Professor Shashi Nair surely had a point to make when he informed us that the human eye is perhaps the most versatile lens ever created. The flamboyance with which it adjusts and adapts to situations and settings is truly remarkable. My convictions on his statement received extensive support at the recently concluded written examination on Principles of Photography.

The cacophony before the test begins is inevitable. Last minute glances into bundles of xeroxes, nervous finger-biting, scaling margins, harried supervisors desperately requesting us to "Drop you bags..drop your bags!" and of course, the most motivating - good wishes and good lucks from fellow homies. The stage is finally set and examination is about to begin...

Little have we proceeded into the written test and this very versatile lens that I was talking about, is seen functioning in full flow. I've seen it myself, used it to the core with all the adjustments on my very own lens, but somehow the perfect image never registered on the recording medium (my cornea). Inevitably, every time this lens tries to focus, zoom in-zoom out, the incongruous invigilator obstructs or rather, dustracts my view. While I tried to focus again and zoom into the right places (heheh...), here's what my fellow homies were upto...

To my right was fellow-mate Gautam, busy trying to wipe his lenses and adjusting the extra-apparel that came along with it (read: his long locks). Focussing was getting difficult for him today. Why not? Extra-exposure all night and exhaustion can definitely take its toll on them. Rohit Gulati, another pony-tuned punjab da puttar was trying to use the versatility of his lens to the hilt. His wide-angle was trying to grab all he could from Gautam's sheets, but surprisingly for him Gautam's sheets were whiter than usual. I guess, the film got over-exposed on Gautam's part. Makhija on the other hand, was chewing on his tripod. (Whatever that means!)

Meanwhile, Ashwini, was desperately trying to focus. She had zoomed in perfectly alright, but her tripod was shaky and wobbly as usual. Her lenses unfortunately showed terrific affection for the developing medium and tried to make contact with it and when it did, a strange snoring sound emanated out of the entire process....

Gaikwad, today was clicking away to glory. Images captured from all direction - his strategic positioning, coupled with excellent incident metering, he was able to record useful images from various sources around him in the form of Ankita, Vasudha and Anushka. Hope he didn't make any malicious use of his surprisingly spot-on precision in focusing. I'd have appreciated a lesser zoom. Well, who cares? I'd better started taking prints soon or else, I'd have nothing to zoom into.

Its feels strange indeed when I looked at the examination hall in this perspective. It may appear funny to realise that I was actually going through such thoughts, when instead I should have been coolly taking photographs ....err....taking my own prints out of my memories. But there's a beautiful and meaningful thought-process that emerges when I look at the flip-side of it.

We are after all, the recording media, (media students) with in-built lenses. Sometimes, we do try shift, adjust and strain them a bit, but its essential that we take good care of these lenses and show an effecient and true picture of what we see. The human body is like an entire photography apparatus itself. Its only our prints though, which reflect of how we see the world around us. And the acknowledgment of those prints, reflects a lot of what the world thinks of us.

We as, media students, definitely know how our reflections (or prints, rather ;) ) are going to make a world of a difference!
Cheers!
Arcopol