Name: Advika Mukherjee
Hometown: New Delhi, India
Year: Sophomore
Majors: International Relations and Economics
Her Campus recently sat down with Advika Mukherjee, a photo editor for the Mount Holyoke news and a Community Advisor, to learn all about her passion for photography.
Who is your favorite photographer?
(photo by Mitali Mukerji)
My favorite photographer is my aunt, Mitali Mukerji. She’s been taking pictures for as long as I can remember and she started off by taking pictures whenever she traveled outside of India. Recently, in Delhi, she started doing street photography, which is something that really speaks to me. I think that street photography is very dynamic and that it brings out the parts of people that really comprise them. It gives you insight into who people are just based on the way they stand and what they do when you ask to photograph them.
What’s your favorite type of photography?
(photo by Advika Mukerjee)
Street photography, definitely! That’s the type of photography I would love to do, or just taking portraits of people. I love being able to learn about people based on the way they act when they are being photographed.
How did you become a Mount Holyoke News photo editor?
Freshman year, I joined MHN as a staff photographer and I worked as a staff photographer for the whole year. At the beginning of this year, my photo editors encouraged me to apply for a photo editor position, so I applied and I got it! I was so excited!
What’s the best part about being a photo editor?
The best part is when you get the photos from all the staff photographers and you get to see everyone’s skills. Like, some people are meant to take photos of people, they’re amazing at it, and some people are best at taking action shots. I’m better at taking still photos, so getting to see people who have similar talents, or have a talent that’s greater than my own is great. You get to learn from your staff.
What do you love about taking pictures?
(photo/quote by Advika Mukherjee)
When you have a camera, you can document things that often go unnoticed and you can focus on specific parts of people. Photography allows me to notice the simple and intricate things about people that I probably wouldn’t get to see in the moment.
How do you manage your time?
Being a photo editor takes up a lot of my time (probably 6-8 hours a week), and being a CA is a 24/7 job, but I think, because photography has always been a hobby for me and because I’ve always been passionate about it, I don’t see being a photo editor as a hard job. It just feels like me putting my hobby to use, and it’s something I would probably do in my free time anyway.
How does photography relate to your majors?
(photo by Advika Mukherjee)
I think, that being an IR major, one of the most important parts is allowing for all of things I learn about, all of the theories, to be put into perspective. In an ideal world, I would be a photojournalist, combining my love for IR and Econ, and translating it into something that I genuinely love doing. So it’s something I could use in the field that I want to go into.
To see more pictures from Advika, don’t forget to pick up a copy of Mount Holyoke News or check out their website at http://mountholyokenews.org/!