HYDERABAD: For them, the night is always young. They get into their element after sundown and hit the sack at dawn. Meet the nightlight photographers of Hyderabad who fix their lens on to the party animals in the city. For starters, nightlife photography is a sub-genre of low light photography which explores the nightlife in the cities. As most of the cities come alive during nights it’s always unique to capture those memories. Hyderabad, they say, is one of the best party cities in India.
Syed Sameer Munna, 26, from Hyderabad, says that nightlife photography which has been in vogue in the West since the 90s, and has now made inroads into India because of the bustling nightlife. Nightlife photography has so far been termed as a hobby, but not as a profession. However, this young bunch of photographers wants to change that perception.
Although Sameer is not a professionally trained photographer, he says his passion made him learn it. “I learned by watching YouTube videos and on the job at parties. In the initial days, I would talk to other photographers and learn as much as I could. Now I teach other photographers,” he says. His team called Sameer Clicks comprises a team of six photographers.
Most of the nightlight photographers in Hyderabad – the average age being 23 – are graduates who ventured into this for the love of the craft. Interestingly, they also embrace the job full time. A lot of hard work and passion goes into what they do. “It takes a full-time job to pursue this. No other job can give us this kind of satisfaction,” they say. What do these photographers think about the nightlife scene in Hyderabad? As someone who covers the nightlife, do they think the city parties late into night. Or is it more into house parties? Are the Hyderabadis wild partygoers or tame?
“The nightlife scene in Hyderabad is one of the best in the country. Parties go into the wee hours at night, but after the clubs are closed, they transform into house parties. As a person who covered nightlife in all major cities, Hyderabad has the wildest partygoers,” says Sameer. Sai, Rakesh, Hussain, Hari and Dany, who like to be known by their first names, agree with Sameer. However, in terms of photography, the hardest thing to master is low light photography. For concerts, it’s tougher as there is a lot going on with the crowd, the artists and the lighting.
So, capturing the right moment on film is particularly hard, they rue. They mostly use Canon cameras for the colour science besides zoom and wide-angle lens, say the young lensman. The nocturnal bunch also feels that there is little respect given to the people in this profession. “In the beginning when you trying to learn and master your craft, there were people who doubted what we were doing. But we ignored the din and concentrated on mastering the craft and succeeded. I had to claw through all the doubts and hardships to get to where I am,” says Sameer from Kukatpally.
The future looked bright until the pandemic hit. The nightlife was among the last things to open up. It gave a big blow to this genre of photography. Right now, things are slowly picking up. Sameer and Sushant, both nightlife photographers, also started their own music event management company called “Sektor69” to give world class unique experience to all the party people.
“Most photographers ask us how much we earn in nightlife photography and dissuade us from doing this. They advise us to join wedding photography. We tell them nightlife photography is not a just photography. It’s an emotion for which we gave up a lot, including sleep. We believe that at the end of the day, it depends on how happy you are with your work. If it’s only about money, we would have started a business rather than take up photography. We are happy to embrace the night and the lens,” say Sai, Sameer and Hussain.
Nightlife photography is the new age profession that seems to be gaining ground in Hyderabad, thanks to the bustling nightlife in the twin cities. Although the pandemic put a brake on them for over a year, they are back in action. We meet this young nocturnal bunch who go around the city for late night concerts, events and parties. “Hyderabad has the wildest partygoers,” they collectively say
— Manju Latha Kalanidhi kalanidhi@newindianexpress.com @mkalanidhi