He was found on Facebook a year or two ago. There were photos all over his timeline. There was eye and heart connected in blues, red, black and many more. He imprints hearts on paper and sheet. Some are stored in his computer. Some needed to be backed up. Some are to be photo-shopped. They should be carefully balanced in color and scale. We never would have thought that a photographer has this much of work to do. They are busy just like any other hard-worker. Busy collecting faces, places and stories that have happened. And this is why photographs are expensive. They bring back times that cannot happen again. They will show how you looked like a kid, now when you are grown up.
“These memories come with quality where a lot of effort has been put. Therefore it is worth the price,” Ushan said.
Some things are yet to happen. People are yet to meet. And hearts are waiting to be stitched in colors of all sorts. He is waiting to capture exciting things. He fixes a pocket full of souls in rectangles, triangles or whatever. And in absence, he thinks that people peer through them and tell stories.
That’s what he does, in the day and night. A photographer by nature turned into a profession, let’s say. Apart from this JOB he reads a lot, draws and paints and is an ardent gamer.
Ushan Gunasekara was educated in Colombo South International School. He is currently reading his bachelor’s in business and IT at the Institute of Information Technology. He has been photo stocked by his late father 20 years ago. It may be the only possible thing that rekindles the love between Ushan and him. Having flown around Europe for four years or more, his father probably knew the ways of freezing eyes and then to unfreeze moments through a lens. Blood works. It did work for Ushan too. Today, Ushan is taking up his father’s passion, who left the world when Ushan was 14 years of age. He is a happy father. Certainly. Where-ever he is.
Academy of Design is where everything begins for Ushan. He had been called out by a dear friend to take some portraits. Perhaps he had a ‘thing’ for people. He knew the heart and smile. He was encouraged to take more photographs. Ushan hasn’t had a camera by that time. For eight months, he was using his friend, Buwaneka’s camera to do photo shoots.
‘Buwaneka is the greatest mentor of all. The one who has helped me both formally and informally about everything in photography,’ Ushan interjected. He further added that his mother had been a silent force behind everything , the one who inspired to follow his father's footsteps. 'She had a lot of burden to bear ,taking care of me and my sister . So I took matters mostly into my hand because she wont be troubled then', Ushan told.
Having started with fashion portraits, Ushan moves to conceptual photography capturing the most basic things around him. And then gradually starts working on wedding shoots. Of all, he likes to thank Dylan , Tai, Adrian and Buwaneka who took him all the way from hotels to streets, knocked out guts and corridors of buildings teaching the has to be done things and what should not be done. And now from everything else he likes street photography. At the moment Ushan works for ReadMe as a part time photographer, but more likely a full timer covering all events happening in Colombo and suburbs.
“There is a story behind every face and every emotion expressed,” he says. Ushan earnestly believes that gears are just a marketing gimmick. Sometimes phones might carry better pictures than a sophisticated camera. What matters is the story it carries. All you need are eyes with craftsmanship to read others and good hands. A DSLR won’t make one an immediate photographer.
He reminded of the days how he used to collect money to buy a camera. Almost everyday he had to forgo his lunch to save 200 or 300 bucks for the camera.
And then, on a rain-threatening evening, Ronin brings a sealed box and starts flipping his shutters everywhere possible. Ushan starts his portfolio titled ‘Ronin Photography’. Ronin is a Samurai with no master. Ushan has no master. Nor does he follow anyone. He has his own way of doing things. He does wedding shoots by his own .Covers almost every fashion show around Colombo. Ushan was recently hired by Dylan, one of the most wanted photographers in Colombo to cover Miss China which was held in several hotels island-wide, sponsored by Cinnamon Tours.
Ronin has come a long way. Ushan is learning about lens and zoom , and the color and pitch has brought salience in his work, caressed hearts, blessed and teared too. He wants to do a photo journal soon after he completes his studies and do some photography that involves travel beyond Sri Lanka.
( Featured in "The Nation" newspaper on 21st September 2014 with a few edits )
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