Veteran photographer David de Souza on his recent tryst with the city's architecture, and why he chose to move back to his home state
St Xavier's College
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"David de Souza is a photographer who enjoys making photographs of subjects of special interest to him, entirely for his own delectation. Many ask him what he intends to do with these photos and he most often only manages an incoherent answer…" is de Souza's description of himself on his website. And true to these words, the veteran photographer has only pursued what has given him true joy in life.
David de Souza
He stopped being a biochemistry lecturer at Seth GS Medical College 26 years ago when he felt it was getting too academic; he gave up commercial photography, miffed with practices he didn't agree with; he decided to teach photography, for he felt he had something to share, and quit when he thought he was teaching big batches, of whom not all were interested in the art. In 2012, after spending over two decades in Mumbai, he moved to his home state of Goa because it felt right. The one thing that remained unchanged through it all was his love for 'making photos'.
The Taj Mahal Palace
De Souza, who is in Mumbai for a brief period, conducted an architectural photography workshop at the Royal Opera House last month, something that came as a pleasant surprise to many of his former students. Does this mean he'll be back in the city more often? "The workshop happened by chance, but I am open to doing something like this off and on. Now that I talk about it, I am reminded of the days when I went around capturing Mumbai's moods and architecture," he says. We caught up with de Souza to take a trip down memory lane.
An old taxi meter
Photography, two ways
When de Souza took up commercial photography, audits were not de rigueur at advertising agencies. "What shocked me were the immoral practices that intelligent people from the industry would indulge in," he says. "Ad agencies would pay them a percentage over the total bill, but before that, many would inflate the budget. This, and the fact that product shots didn't speak to my strength, burnt me out."
Members of the Gemini circus troupe
Before taking up photography full time, de Souza had started pursuing subjects that caught his imagination on the side. "The area outside my home (in Churchgate) was where you would find many of the city's itinerants. I would hear the sound of ghunghroos outside my window and I knew a Kadak Lakshmi was in the vicinity. I would call them in and photograph them," he says. de Souza went on to capture circus troupes, coffee vendors, porters and balloon sellers among others, and the pictures eventually became a part of the book, Itinerants: Mumbai's Nomads, which he wrote with his wife Charmayne. He has authored 17 books, four of which document Mumbai's heritage architecture.
Kadak Lakshmi. Pics/David De Souza, Arjun Mukherjee
Churchgate chronicles
Does de Souza miss Mumbai at all? "I have thoroughly enjoyed my years in Mumbai. While technology helps me keep in touch with friends here, I miss the bazaars. You can't find anything like Lohar Chawl in Goa. That said, I now breathe in wonderfully pure air," he smiles.
And this brings us to the uprooting of trees right outside his home that has coincided with his visit. "When we have the technology to transplant them, how can we just hack them?" laments de Souza. '"Greater common good' bothers the hell out of me. A lot of wrong has been done in the garb of these words."
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