Seven days with Mr. David Trattles and he changed the way I looked at the world. I never thought that this photography workshop organized by Seagull would be such an eye opening experience for me. I was getting bored at home after my H.S exams when I came to know about this workshop I decided to join for fun….and yes I had loads of it!! I will never forget the fuss I had to go through on the first day of workshop to find the place where it was being held! But it was worth while for sure..one of the nicest things about the workshop was the mixture of people from different class and cultures though at first we all felt a bit shy but Mr.David’s words inspired us that this workshop was not about only photography, it was about us, our families, our hopes our dreams and our opinions. It is all about sharing all of it with everyone present there. We were given tasks on each day of the workshop! I loved them and no matter how much we tried to predict what was going to be our next task we never even got close! Sometimes we were partenered up with a complete stranger and told to get to know that person or someday we were taken to the Howrah flower market and told to tell a story through our pictures about the people there how they worked how they lead their lives. On someday David would hand us a piece of paper and tell us to write our dreams down or the things that we want to change about our society then he would tell us to swap our papers with our partners and narrate the story of our partners dreams through pictures. It was he who told us to stop restricting our imagination and let them run wild. This experience in my life is unforgettable for me, it not only changed my point of view but also made me more confident about myself, now I will never hesitate before talking to strangers. I am grateful to Seagull and Mr David Trattles for organizing this exhibition/workshop and for giving us the opportunity to express our views . Also Sayan, Sidharth and Bishan were a great help.

Report by Shromona Dasgupta