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Photo @dolescent member crush: Somriddho Dasgupta

Sep. 5, 2019
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This is a weekly series where we feature our incredibly talented Adolescent members and their work! Sign up here to join the Adolescent Membership and be part of the @ family!

This week’s Adolescent Member Crush is Somriddho Dasgupta, an androgynous filmmaker represented by Buzz Talent. He loves to express emotions through alternative projects, having made experimental films about everything from androgyny to feminism to abortion. We talked to Somriddho about his favorite photo he’s ever taken, why he likes making his viewers think, and why it’s so important to cover underrepresented topics.

Adolescent Content: How does being androgynous play into your work, if at all?

Somriddho Dasgupta: Being androgynous [while I’m working] helps me express my thoughts and ideas better. If I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin, I don’t think I would ever be able to create the films that I create. Androgyny gives me the confidence to go out and experiment; both, with my sense of fashion and with my films. 

Adolescent: Your films have covered everything from feminism to abortions. How do you decide you want to cover a certain topic in your work?

Somriddho: I like to pick topics that are underrepresented in the media. Not many films are made about abortions, especially [about] teenagers… I like to raise awareness with my films!

Adolescent: What’s your favorite photo you’ve ever taken?

Somriddho: It’s really hard to pick one photo, actually. I feel like I’m evolving every day—so if I was happy with a photograph a week ago, I [might not] be that happy with the same photograph a week later. I’m continuously trying to refine my style. But at the moment, my favorite photograph is this self-portrait.

Adolescent: When did you pick up a camera for the first time?

Somriddho: It was at the age of 11 or 12, I think, and it was my dad’s old Nokia. I’ve always loved filming, and I loved filming myself! The first “film” I created was basically a how-to video for an Indian dessert recipe. I was absolutely in love with how the video turned out. I still have that video somewhere on YouTube, haha. 

Adolescent: What do you think are a photographer’s responsibilities?

Somriddho: A photographer has the power to alter the truth, and of course that raises a lot of ethical questions. It’s [ultimately] their responsibility to give a truthful account of events. And when they’re working in real-life environments, they should ensure that their subjects don’t feel uncomfortable; if they do, the photographer should stop immediately. After all, it’s the subjects’ story—their life. The photographer is merely a communicator.