India Unposed

Before Craig Semetko became a photographer he appeared on stage as a comedy author and performer. Then, with a few detours and some “lucky chances”, he found his way to photography some time around the year 2000. In 2013 he set off to travel throughout India, publishing the pictures taken in his 2014 book titled India Unposed. The special 10x10 edition of LFI in 2014 also carried a selection of his India pictures, in tandem with those of his photographic mentor, Elliott Erwitt. He spoke with us about his approach and what he focussed on during his time in the subcontinent. 

LFI: You took a series of photographs in India in 2013. That series was to become part of an exhibition at Leica Headquarters in Wetzlar, and eventually became a book, India Unposed. How did you prepare yourself?
Craig Semetko: I didn’t do a lot of research. I don’t really ever do research to any extensive level. Certainly, some basic research has to be done to get to where you’re going, but this general lack of preparation has served me well. It keeps me open to new experiences, and that can produce unexpected photographs. For the first decade or so of my photographic career, I let serendipity rule the day. But having said that, as I get older, I’m more conscious of time and I’m trying to structure things and plan things out a little more. Hopefully not to the detriment of welcoming serendipity.

What has your experience been of taking photos on location?
I take too many pictures of dogs (laughs). I learned that I was capable enough to produce on a deadline. My first book (Unposed, 2009 – ed. note) was all done on a lark. It just seemed to come together through luck without any sort of purpose or intent. In fact, I didn’t even refer to myself as a photographer until that book came out and only then did I change my business cards from actor/writer to photographer.  

For India Unposed I had to come up with the goods in a set amount of time. I had this pressure of a real project and I didn’t want to be embarrassed. In India I got out there every day all day and kind of exhausted myself in the heat. By the end, I was so exhausted, I ended up getting a very bad pneumonia. But the exhibition was a success and I found out that I was capable of delivering under pressure. 

What was your focus when taking photos in India?
There are several things that will stop me in my tracks. Obviously oddities and humor, but geometry will also stop me. When I see interesting geometry, the hope is that some sort of compelling subject will appear in front of it or become part of it. So I’m looking for irony, I’m looking for curiosities, I’m looking for geometry and I try to compose a scene carefully but you can’t always do that. Sometimes you must react in a split second and throw the camera to your face or at your hip or wherever. But when I have that luxury I’ll take the time to carefully compose the frame. 

Which cameras did you take with you to India?
I had two cameras with me. The Leica Monochrom and the M240, so I had one color and one purely black and white. I worked primarily with a Summilux-M 35 f/1.4 Asph and Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 Asph.

In what ways did your working methods differ between India Unposed and your 2010 book Unposed? 
In India, I would give myself a loose structure and boundaries to work within and then be free to work within that structure. I think that’s the best way for me to work. My hit ratio was much higher in India than it would have been for the previous years working on my first book. While I was passionate about what I was doing, I didn’t have this fire beneath me, telling me this has got get done. You’ve got to produce. I didn’t have an end date or goal with the pictures from Unposed. So I certainly had a different mindset in India. It’s interesting that over three months I probably shot as many pictures as I did over three years for my first book. I was also shooting digitally on this project, so I felt much more liberated in the amount of pictures I could be taking.