Meet the masterclass: Prasiit Sthapit
We asked each of the 12 participants of the 2016 Joop Swart Masterclass five questions. Today we’re talking with Nepali photographer Prasiit Sthapit.
Can you tell us about the photo story you made for the masterclass?
In a sentence, my story is about Nepali migrant workers who go to Malaysia or the Middle East to work and then just disappear. They are completely out of contact with their family, or people who they used to work with. Just completely gone from their lives without a trace.
It ranges from a month to 14–15 years that they haven’t heard from them. A lot of them might have died. A lot of them may be in jail or in the hospital. Or it’s possible they just don’t want to be contacted anymore. Perhaps they are intentionally trying to disappear from their old life. But nobody knows.
So I’m talking to the families and collecting their old stuff, whatever they used to use. At first I thought it would be interesting to document their old rooms, where they used to live. But I had forgotten about the earthquake. Most of these missing people would have lost their homes or the family doesn’t live in the same place anymore. So, I decided to instead focus on what they left behind: their stuff and family.
There have been cases of people who have been missing for so long suddenly being found or showing up on the family’s doorstep. There’s been a lot of cases where the family has lost contact—maybe a family member changed their mobile number and so the missing person has no way to get in touch anymore. Or maybe the person who has been missing lost his phone.
For some families, it’s enough just to know that their missing family member is alive. I would like for this photo story to create that bridge between the missing and their families. I’m hoping that when this reaches the Internet, someone will recognize one of the missing people and can help the families to either know that their loved one is alive or where that person is.
See Prasiit’s story “The Mysterious Case of Pushpa and Others”.
What is the most helpful thing you’ve taken away from the masterclass?
Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration. That has come up this week SO many times—and not just with other photographers. I have been trying to collaborate with other forms of creative artists, like sound artists for example.
We’re at this juncture in the media industry, I think, where one media alone cannot tell the whole story.
I think it’s silly to be a purist in this day and age. You have to branch out into a lot of different things because story is king. If photographs don’t do complete justice to your story, then you have to think of other ways. This week has been all about experimenting and coming out of that little bubble of photography, doing whatever you have to do to bring that story out.
What part of the job do you struggle with?
I struggle with a lot of things, from the beginning to the end. In Nepal, there isn’t much space for photography. It’s definitely growing now. We have this photo festival called Photo Kathmandu and this group Photo Circle, both of which are helping to plant seeds in news media about photography and its importance, not just as illustration.
It’s still growing, though, and publishing and those different worldwide industries are so alien to us. Pitching a story is such an alien concept to us in Nepal, for instance. So since there’s little education on it in Nepal, I really struggle with the business of photography. I hardly earn money through photography. I do other things to make a living and I spend my income on my projects.
But I know I’m not alone in this struggle. My advice to emerging photographers is this: find a group of people that you trust. This business is all about networking.
Do you use social media professionally?
I am very, very bad at social media. I did not have an Instagram account until last year, after the earthquake. I started my Instagram account just because a few photographers had created this platform called Nepal Photo Project to send out information about the earthquake. So I created an account to be part of that project. I would go to a village or some place and post a photo and send information about what they need and what the situation is.
So, yeah, that’s how my Instagram account started. And now I’m just posting photos of whatever I want, whatever I see. It’s not professional. I’m very weak at social media and I need to improve because I see my fellow participants seeing results, getting work, from their social media accounts. It’s a platform now. We don’t need galleries or magazine spaces to get our work out. If our main aim is to inform, I think it’s a very democratic platform.
How do you see your career progressing?
I don’t really know. I don’t have a particular style or issue that I want to cover. Whatever interests me, I go look for that and if it’s photographable, I do it. The story dictates how it’s going to be done, of course. My previous project was completely different from what I’m doing now, for instance. I tried to do it the old way and it just didn’t feel right.
I used to think that since all the big photographers had just one style and this one way of looking at things throughout their career, I thought that was the way to go. But it just didn’t work for me.
I’m still very young in my career, though. As I grow, I’m sure I’ll find out more things. Maybe in some time I’ll develop a style. Maybe I won’t. I don’t think that matters much.
As for how I make money now, I have a production company, called Fuzz Factory Productions, that I started with a couple of friends. So I make music videos—I’ve even acted in a few. I do a lot of NGO assignments, mostly videos. Sometimes I have editorial assignments, but very few. I think I’ve shot two editorial assignments to this day. Video is fun, though. It’s completely different.
The Joop Swart Masterclass has been organized by World Press Photo foundation every year since 1994 and has established itself as one of the most prestigious events of its kind. Its goal is to bring together some of the most experienced individuals in photojournalism with 12 young, promising photographers to share and pass on their knowledge and experience. Learn how to apply.
