(From top) Knots; The Touch Of Death and Smoke Indian; Suryarshi Mitra

Who: Suryarshi Mitra, first year mass communication and videography student of St Xavier’s College. Surya uses the lenses of his new Nikon D40 to look at life. He likes to be called ‘DeathStealer’; he believes his photographs immortalise reality.

Why: “Photography is an extension of reality, it shows a naked picture. My camera is an extension of my eye,” says Surya. He lets people derive the meaning they want to from his photographs, because he believes photography is an open-ended art.

How: Photography was never a conscious passion till college assignments came along. The course required Surya to shoot pictures based on the theme of “mrityuchetana” as a photographic narrative. While on this assignment, Surya was introduced to Bangalore-based lensman Rishi Chowdhury, who went on to become his mentor. That assignment made Surya realise his comfort with the camera.

Along the way came a few awards as well, which helped Surya stick to his career decision. Within a short span of time, Surya had quite a few assignments; primarily photoshoots for a number of bands from the city.

Style: Surya tries to find art in mundane subjects. According to him, these usually tell stories that have been overlooked. “A common man is way more photogenic than a glamorous model. He has a lot written on his face,” he explains.

Primarily a still photographer, his lens dwells within the urban sprawl. Life as a cemetery is a recurrent theme.

Next: Surya is currently shooting for Bangla rock band Insomnia’s new album. He also has plans to do a retrospective of Calcutta in black-and-white.

Surya’s quest for knowledge in the field of photography doesn’t end here: he wants to pursue a masters at the Light And Life Academy, Tamil Nadu.