If teaching is the act of sharing, then I’ve been doing it for a while without having actually stepped into a classroom. Over the years, I’ve had many good assistants, and still do. They do what they have to do and they do it well (thereby allowing me to concentrate on things that need my attention) but being from a different generation, their sensibilities tend to rub off on me and vice-versa. For example, when I first made the switch from the comfortable world of analog into the unfamiliar digital world, it was my assistants who provided many of the answers. What I give back is my many years of experience as a professional and whatever knowledge I’ve picked up while using film.

I’ve always believed that knowledge is not something that I have a copyright on. If my teachers, Mr. Behlihomji, Mr. Mitter Bedi and Mr. Hiroyuki Yamamoto hadn’t shared what they knew with me, I wouldn’t be where I am today, so I look at this process as paying it forward. There is also the added benefit of knowing that I’ve been of some use in improving the quality of photographic life, so to speak.

This is why I took the offer from Raffles Design International when they approached me to look after one of their modules in Visual Communication on weekends. I set the syllabus and the exam paper and concentrated on training the visual skills of my students.