“But it seems to be less obvious somehow that to create anything at all in any field, and especially anything of outstanding worth requires nonconformity or a want of satisfaction with things as they are. The creative person — the nonconformist — may be in profound disagreement with the present way of things, or he may simply wish to add his views, to render a personal account of matters.” wrote Ben Shahn.
Working on my unconventional thesis on “creative folks in science communication” I happened to bump into Anand Varma, a science photographer by profession. If you love National Geographic, you might be able to locate his featured work there. Anand Varma shared his stories from his childhood and more with SciWri.
Curiosity and spirit of adventure dominated Anand’s childhood. He grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. Encouraged by his parents, he was found running into the creeks in the forest that extended beyond his backyard. His attention was captured by the leaping frogs and the trailing ants; he observed and tried to comprehend them as much as he could.
A bioluminescent mushroom from Brazilian forests.
This idea of observing the world around and exploring outdoors was, and remains, the motivation of his pursuits.
During his early teens, he was fascinated with different kinds of fish. His love for fish was so captivating that the idea of being an ‘ichthyologist’ enthralled him. Once he learned that one could be a scientist who observes fishes for a profession, it was the most obvious thing to do.
Soon after, he set out to be a biologist. One summer, he got the chance to assist and travel with a National Geographic photographer, David Liittschwager. That’s when it hit him that a photographer is as much as a scientist, exploring unknown, documenting it all through the eyes of an optical lens. Re-evaluation of his choices and aspirations led him to weigh his decision to be a science academician. Academicians focus on a narrow question and spend a lifetime of work towards answering the same question in-depth. He realized he was someone with a short attention span and greater love for outdoors and exploration. A career in photography would allow him to stay outdoors, have fun exploring the world, meet interesting people, and understand a diverse set of problems that affect our world. He believes self-analysis and constant revaluation of interests and openness of mind and sight are the way to go forward. Anand believes that narrowing one’s goal to association with particular institute or a particular job may make one indifferent or blind to other good opportunities.
Like many who try to pursue unconventional routes, he grappled with uncertainty and fear of instability in trying to understand his choices and motivation, a process that took about four years. A creative, enriching pursuit was pitted against a comfortable certain path (a tenure track). It turned out that work kept pouringin and there was no time to take a break and reflect upon the choices. Academia became the fall back option and the walk to be a professional photographer continued.
Janthinobacterium growing in petridish.
He feels lucky to have been able to do what he is doing today, which is following his passion and making a meaningful living out of it. “It was so random,” he said, to have made a mark. While the career choice still has elements of uncertainty inherent to the nature of the job, he feels comfortable with his choice.
“Has the advice, ‘follow your passion’ held mettle or not?” I asked Anand. “While it is nice to ‘follow your passion,’ it is not a comprehensive advice,” he mused. “One also has to find an audience for their love, find a way to connect with the audience. If one wishes to pursue their passion as a career, one has to evaluate the worthiness of their passion for an audience, however big or narrow.” He believes that your passion has to produce something that other people value.
Another thing that comes as part and parcel of this advice is that one must be prepared to live with anxiety and risk. Taking risks and plunging into an unknown experience and surviving them is how one learns to live with the fear. One does not always know what the outcome will be. On the lines of what Maria Popova said, one must regularly update their goals and choice to be on the path. That would mean walking into unchartered territories again and again and having to live with uncertainty and anxiety.
A prepared mind and open eyes are a must for one to be able to evaluate opportunities. He advised that one must not pin goals to a specific job or organization, but rather that goals should be about what one wants to do more generally. He knew that he wanted to explore nature and be outdoors, it was not his goal to work for the National Geographic. This allows one to be open to a wider range of ‘compatible’ opportunities and less dependent of the whims of a specific company or institute. The bigger picture also allows one to identify the ways to connect with an audience.
Close up of female Coppery-bellied Puffleg hummingbird.
He has now been a photographer for a decade. As someone who believes in the evolution of choices and goals, he now wants to improve his storytelling skills and collaborate with talented storytellers in other fields. He aims to find more innovative ways to answer the question, ‘how do you get people to connect with nature?’
As part of understanding what he wants to learn, he and Prasenjeet Yadav conducted a science photography workshop at NCBS, Bangalore. From the questions participants asked, he hopes to identify central ideas about, ‘how does one tell a story?’ The biggest factor, he believes, lies in understanding the audience to know what their interests are; what they already know and how what you have to share will add novelty or value to them.
If one looks at the body of work that Anand has created, novelty is certainly one of his motivations. He seems to have a signature style where he strives to create a novel and striking way to portray subjects that have been photographed previously. I asked him about his inspirations and influences in the making of what I think of as ‘the Anand Varma style’. He said, “It is a personal call most of the time. I took me a long time to make photographs that I was satisfied with.” This is a reminder of Ira Glass’s observation that great artists start with a good sense of taste, and they succeed when they figure out how to produce work that matches the standards they set for themselves.
Talking about influences, he mentioned two contrasting themes. His initial training was with National Geographic photographer David Liittschwager. David appreciated the power of simplicity where the subject is drawn far away from its context, and one can enjoy all the details of the subject up to the stray hair on its face. Another influence was from Japanese animation where each frame has so much visual information that it is difficult to blink one’s eyes without missing out on magnificent details.
He strives to find a balance between maintaining simplicity while cramming in visual information to hook the readers. According to him, a good image is one where you would not want to take your eyes off it. The balance between mystery and familiarity is what makes an image striking.
The wisdom he shared with me speaks to the volume of experience he has gained, despite being a relatively young artist. “A wise person is an experienced person. Practical wisdom is a craft and craftsmen are trained by having the right experiences. ‘People learn how to be brave,’ said Aristotle, ‘by doing brave things.’ So, too, with honesty, justice, loyalty, caring, listening, and counseling”, wrote Barry Schwartz and Kenneth Sharpe in their book Practical Wisdom: The Right Way to Do the Right Thing. I hope to seek newer experiences actively and plunge right in. How about you?
About the author
Ipsa Jain is Ph.D. student at IISc. Wants to gather and spread interestingness. Prefers drawing and painting over writing. Posts on Facebook and Instagram as Ipsawonders.
