Kathmandu INSIDE:OUT™ with Edwin Koo: A Masterclass in Immersion
(Text by Veneeta Singha)
‘Once a year, a group of like-minded people from all over the world gather in Kathmandu to tell real stories with photography. This is the philosophy behind Kathmandu INSIDE:OUT (fondly known as “KIO™”) — a photography masterclass like no other.’
Q. How did KIO begin and what is the impetus that got it off the ground?
A. “The story of KIO is unfolding even as we speak. The Masterclass is in its third year now. I visited Kathmandu is 2008 while working as a news photographer and had hoped to find work and immersion in a foreign environment. I watched and shot photographs of many familiar Kathmandu scenes — the festivals, children playing, the protests that were happening on the streets. With my training in journalism, I always kept the narrative in mind. The power of photography lies in its ability to freeze the frame but it is the narrative that weaves photos into music. Nepal is a new republic now and the changes are very evident. Everything that is 3-dimensional becomes 2-dimensional when you see it for a long time. The fresh eye, thus, is very important. A misled eye can mislead due to one’s own romanticized notions of a place and its people. The camera reveals things that the eye cannot see. The desire to express what one sees is innate and intrinsic. The closest thing to a visceral experience is via a photograph. A photograph is a reflection. With the burgeoning of modern technological gadgets, all we see are snippets of the world. Importantly, no photograph is ever objective. A photographer is often pulled towards a certain emotion that a subject evokes.
When I left Nepal in 2011, I felt deeply indebted to a people that taught me so much. I knew I needed to come back to share my experience with others. So I started KIO back in 2012.”
Q. What are some of the impressions and narratives of Kathmandu that you focus on?
A. “KIO is a masterclass using photography as a medium, using storytelling itself as a medium. Importantly, the participants often discover themselves during the KIO experience. If something is real, it does not repeat itself in the exact same way. My vision was to bring a group of people from a developed country and put them together with people from a less-developed country. So, in essence, the fresh eyes of the first world are combined with the hospitality and local knowledge here. The focus is on stories about lives and what the eye cannot see. The central principle is the concept of “buddies.” We do not work with translators or guides but rather through friendship and goodwill. The absence of a monetary transaction is crucial to the KIO experience and learning because if based on a transaction, the story would not be genuine. My philosophy is: Do not manipulate reality and the photographs. Openness defines Nepal. Reaching out to an immersive experience here allows a high sense of satisfaction. The motivating factor in KIO is the idea of learning, of making oneself better, of a shared experience and of self-will.”
Q. As a well-known photographer, how do you frame a story in a frame/photograph?
A. “It is a fallacy to think that one photograph can or will tell a story. We leave out many things in a frame. In order to counter this, I try to to focus on telling deeper stories. The art of photography is lost if we focus on one photograph. The balance is that we leave out things in a frame that might harm and we bring into the frame things that we feel. In the present day, it almost seems as if we like to see disasters and human catastrophe. The important element in a frame is that if one building has collapsed, another one nearby is standing. The consumer diet of media now comprises sound bites and 160 characters. KIO is my personal crusade against the proliferation of ‘photographic porn’. There are too many distractions for us all so it is crucially important to observe! It is mind boggling sometimes to just think of the millions of images that do not make a difference in our lives at all.”
Q. What are some of the key elements of immersion and photography that KIO aims to impart to the participants?
A.”Photography, in its primordial nature, is a language of reality. It carries the power of truth telling — this is inherently problematic when people are engrossed with selfies rather than the people around them. Image making and capture can play tricks on the mind. The photograph, therefore, must be honest and not just clever. If it is not honest, then it is anti-photography. Immersive storytelling in KIO stems from a philosophy of letting a story unfold. Instant gratification is fraught with problems. At KIO, we let people discover the stories, individually or as a collective. Many participants leave the masterclass a changed person, with a deeper perspective on the practice of photography.”
