JONATHAN CHERRY: Have you got some favourite practitioners? If so, who and why do they inspire you?

MANJARI SHARMA: Earlier on some of my favourites were Edward Weston and Avedon but one of my most impressionable and more memorable exhibitions was to see Irving Penn’s portraits. Amongst the more current artists, my inspiration would have to be Eric Ogden, Greg Miller, Dan Winters, Kelli Connell, Emily Shur, Anna Gaskell and Brian Oglesbee.

JC: What equipment have you been using recently?

MS: I shuttle back and forth between Nikon D2x and Mamiya C330 film camera. I also own these light, yet potent strobes the Elinchrom Ranger Quadras that make me a lot more mobile when I shoot.

JC: How did you come up with the idea for ‘The Shower Series’?

MS: I was initially inspired by the light that entered my bathroom through a window. It turned my shower it into this golden sun room for about an hour and a half. The whole space just basked in that light every day and while I showered in there, looking at my own hands and feet, I just wondered how incredible it would be to invite someone in for a portrait in this space. The walls in there are all marble so the light bounced around in a beautiful way as well.

It started out with simple idea of a dry portrait and then I asked one of my subjects if she would actually take a shower in there for me and she obliged. Everything changed pretty much at that moment, technique wise suddenly there was drama introduced into the frame. I started to use a strobe to freeze some of the water and whole experience which was really charged and loaded with the tightness of that space started to break down and the awkwardness between the camera, subject and photographer began to come undone somehow.

JC: What are the meanings behind ‘The Shower Series’?

MS: The shower series I feel is about letting go and letting someone in, into a space that’s private and personal. The people in the images look vulnerable because it’s no different than they felt. There was a certain amount of exhilaration to the process but it began and ended with trust. It was almost like an exercise. An exercise in learning to exhale.

JC: What is next for you photographically?

MS: I am currently working on a project, portraiture based, that will be dominantly shot in India. I am leaving for India for nearly 6 weeks and will be returning in the end of February. I’ll be certainly eager to share the work as well. Please stay tuned on the blog for my updates!

JC: What do you think of the way photography is being used, viewed and critiqued online?

MS: Online Critique wise - I think it’s terrific, the type of opportunities that are available now for one and all of us.

Blogs are the one of single most immediate ways any photographer can get feed back and share his or her art at a global level.

Web 2.0 has developed to the point where I believe that really any one who is not in tune with blogs and information being shared on the internet is clearly missing out. Whether its buying or selling art, reviews, competitions or exhibitions, you stand the chance of acting on it sooner if you are tuned into the web only world as opposed to waiting to find out what’s going on with your industry in your next month’s issue.

It’s interesting Jonathan that you should ask the question about the application and use of photography. It has actually recently been on my mind a lot. The way photography is starting to be used is clearly is in a complete state of transformation, again. I think the change that was triggered by the advent of the digital medium certainly hasn’t ended. Its like we’ve been on a conveyer belt, we might have gained our stability when we jumped on but the belt is still moving.

Every one is making it a pressing matter that our next immediate foray in the photo world is definitely predicted to be “videography.”

Many are adapting their skill sets to making slick and well produced videos now and while I understand the need to get on that band-wagon, I think it’s a good time to ask yourself, what making a picture means to you?. It’s interesting to study how sometimes tabloids force us to abandon reason for fear. In my opinion, the need for a still image will always be required by our society. There will always be a place for a still photograph to be purchased, used and displayed. I think we should ask ourselves what is that satisfaction that creating a still image derives for us? When digital came, film never went away, it just became more precious. The need for motion might take the job market as we know it, but the still photograph will always be a niche. ”Still” is the mother of “motion” and the mother … is pretty much the centre piece of every puzzle.