Meeta Ahlawat
Delhi, New Delhi, India
My first sprout of inspiration for photography came while I chanced upon books of Robert Capa and Henri Cartier Bresson as a student of Mass Communication in Mumbai's Sophia University. It was a heady concoction of spending hours pouring over their vivid pictures, while living in the midst of Mumbai's palpable madness and chaos that compelled me to pick up a film camera and roam the streets. Through my lens I saw tons and tons of people. I saw reality that was brutal and the pain and suffering which suffocated their lives. With every shoot, a tiny portion of their life latched itself onto mine, allowing me to tell their stories through my pictures.
My passion for photography led me to diverse print publications: Down to Earth, Science and Environment fortnightly, DIE ZEIT-Germany's largest weekly paper and The Hindu. As a News Photographer with The Hindu, I strived to create a space for myself as a woman photojournalist in a man's world. I was felicitated as an outstanding alumnus for my contribution to Indian media in 2014 by Jamia Milia Islamia University's Mass Communication Research Department. Apart from shooting, I enjoy teaching the works of famous photographers to Post Graduate students of Still Photography at Jamia Milia Islamia.
- Environment
- Food
- Interview
- Landscape
- Reporting