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Interview: Vishnu Rajan, Student Photographer

By: NWHF Staff | Posted on: May 12th, 2009 | 1 comments | Share:
Categories: Interviews • Education • Public Health • Urban Issues

Vishnu Rajan’s arresting photo, “Demonstration of a Lost Mind,” took third-place in CHP’s Student Photo Contest “The Way I See It,” A Teenage Perspective on Public Health. Chris Palmedo interviewed the 18-year old at the Northwest Resource Credit Union during the First Thursday event celebrating the photo contest.

CP: Your photo was pretty intense. What space were you in when you took it?

VR: Well, for the first eight years of my life, I lived in India. I don’t have a mom or dad. I’ve been in foster care since I’ve been eight and a half. I’ve been able to keep my chin up and handle things the way a lot of people couldn’t.

But over the past year or so, a lot of things accumulated, at home and at school. There were a lot of problems, and I kind of formed this huge mental thing which was always in the back burner of my mind, but it just sat there.

I got into photography less than a year ago.

You obviously have talent.

Well, I’ve just been taking a lot of pictures, mostly portraits, but for that image, I was sitting in my room, doing some online work and got to a point when things were coming into my mind where I just had to leave my computer.

I thought I’d take a picture to take my mind off things. I didn’t plan it out. I just set my tripod up next to my bed and just went a whole different route with it than I usually do.

Did you use film?

No. It’s digital. To get that blur, I just did a one second exposure, so any movement would be out of focus. All I moved was my head. Then I added some contrast and other effects.

Sometimes life seems to be going well for you and then you feel an intense moment?

It comes and goes. It’ll hit me a few times a month maybe. The best feeling is when you can overcome it and do something which will put it away.

Would you say that photography and artistic outlets are pretty effective ways of “putting out” these negative moments in your life?

Photography helps in a lot of aspects. For one thing, when I photograph people, I get to know them in ways that I wouldn’t if I wasn’t taking their picture. It helps me see where other people are coming from.

To help me understand other people helps me understand myself better. And that’s what photography does for me.

And also, being around this beautiful, green state of Oregon, I take a lot of nature pictures, and they show me how great it is. But it doesn’t happen with every photo. There’s a lot of frustration too.

Even with the frustration, is there something therapeutic about working hard on a project?

Yes. Another thing about art is it’s your expression. I look at other photos here tonight and each one is what they see and feel. My mind would never capture what other people capture.

That’s part of art in all forms — painting and drawing or whatever.

Maybe some people are looking at my photo and saying they would never do it, but that’s part of art.

Art expresses your individuality.

Exactly.

And there’s so much in our society where everything is the same – houses look the same, neighborhoods look the same, cars, restaurants, stores…

Yeah. Art helps you put yourself in your own world. You don’t have to conform and do what is needed.

With that picture, a lot of people have asked me about it. And this has been a good thing for me because it’s like getting things off my chest and even helping me understand myself better, so I have a better understanding about why things are the way they are and helps me grow from it.

So there’s a mental health aspect to it.

Exactly. It’s definitely mental. It’s almost like training your mind to make yourself feel better.

 

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