India Photographer Goutam Maiti | Latina Republic

In Our Global Spotlight: India’s Goutam Maiti

“Photograph with your heart, not your lens. The best camera is empathy.” — Goutam Maiti

Goutam Maiti grew up in Kolkata, India’s vibrant cultural capital — a metropolis of contrasts the place historical past, chaos, poetry and resistance coexist. “From narrow alleys and tram lines to Durga Puja processions and tea stalls, Kolkata is a living canvas of stories,” he says. “This environment instilled in me a fascination with everyday life and its hidden emotional rhythms.” This pull continues to affect Goutam’s photographic storytelling.

Goutam’s journey started over a decade in the past with landscapes and wildlife, however he discovered his true calling within the streets—amongst strangers and passing moments. Photography grew to become his technique to join, capturing uncooked, unscripted, and deeply human feelings.

Goutam shares his photographic work underneath the title goutam_on_street on Instagram. A visible storyteller specializing in documentary and avenue images, his relationship with the digicam is rooted in empathy and reminiscence.

“Photography is both a mirror and a window—it reflects my inner world while opening pathways into others,” he explains. Goutam’s fashion leans towards emotional storytelling with a documentary and poetic sensibility.

“I photograph people in public spaces, capturing themes of faith, identity, urban solitude, and the dignity of the unnoticed.” His focus usually facilities on cultural rituals, gendered areas, and lived resilience—particularly of girls and working-class communities.

Although nobody in his household is a photographer, creativity was at all times round him. Growing up, his house was stuffed with music and portray. “My family always supported my curiosity,” he displays.

Goutam is usually self-taught, studying via observe, remark, and suggestions. “I try to learn and get inspired by the works of the legends in the craft,” he says, whereas additionally studying from the visions of youthful photographers.

Reflecting on India via avenue images, Goutam says, “India is incredibly photogenic but also challenging, as crowds, social boundaries, and permissions can be tricky.” He provides that avenue images “walks a thin line between curiosity and intrusion.” Still, the rewards are nice—particularly the belief from strangers, “stories exchanged without words,” and the moments that replicate our shared humanity.

One of his most significant initiatives is an ongoing visible narrative centered on Indian ladies in public areas. His images highlights how custom, braveness, and silence coexist in these moments. ”A photograph of a girl in a crimson saree taking a holy dip at Gangasagar stays etched in my reminiscence—it captured devotion and the basic energy of water in a single body.”

Some photos stick with him, like a body he captured in Varanasi—a second of stillness amid hearth and grief. “A photograph I took in Varanasi—In that aching moment when grief silences every voice around you, and you are left alone beside the burning pyre of someone once dear… With no soul to receive your sorrow, you find unexpected solace in the gentle, unjudging presence of the innocent quadruple listener.”

Reflecting on the scene, Goutam says, “Four paws, two eyes, and a heart untainted by the world — quietly listening to the whispers your own kind cannot bear.” That second taught him the ability of silence in a body and the emotional weight of visible storytelling.

Another second that stays with him unfolded on the ghats of the Ganges. “One quiet afternoon in Varanasi, I came across an elderly woman sitting alone on the ghats. She was wrapped in a faded yellow shawl, her hands resting calmly on her lap, her gaze lost in the river’s endless current.” Goutam recollects that there was one thing timeless about her—“She belonged to the river as much as the stones beneath her feet.”

He hesitated at first however approached gently for a photograph. “She nodded without a word,” he says. After taking just a few frames, they sat in silence. Then she quietly shared, “I come here every day. My husband’s ashes were immersed here twenty-five years ago. I still talk to him.”

What moved Goutam “was the way she carried her solitude—not as sorrow, but as devotion. The photograph I took that day wasn’t just of a person, but of a memory she had kept alive in her heart for decades.” The change reminded him that images isn’t at all times about what’s seen—“it’s often about what is felt, and what remains unsaid.”

Capturing these moments comes from staying open to inspiration. Instead of following a plan, Goutam says, “I carry openness.” He generally researches festivals or locations, however principally follows his instincts. “I look for emotion, light, and juxtaposition. My aim is not just to document but to evoke—letting the viewer feel something deeply human.”

In 2024, Goutam’s work obtained recognition—he was featured on revered platforms in India and overseas, earned particular mentions on the Paris International Street Photography Festival, and received the JPC 2024. Yet for him, “The real reward is when someone says: ‘This image made me feel something.’ That’s the success I care about.”

Currently he’s engaged on a sequence known as, The Unseen Seen—a visible narrative of the invisible labor and emotional presence of Indian ladies in on a regular basis life.

“I aim to show strength in quietness, and how culture often overlooks the emotional lives of women despite their central role in society’s functioning.”

In 2025, he continues to doc the presence and quiet energy of girls in Indian public life—”moms, pilgrims, distributors, widows, employees—every negotiate visibility and id in layered methods.”

The groundwork can also be set for a photobook he hopes to publish in 2026—a reflective narrative weaving collectively years of fieldwork, encounters, and lived truths from the streets and sacred areas of India.

If he might converse to his youthful self — or to a younger photographer simply beginning out — his recommendation could be easy and grounded:

“Don’t wait for the perfect frame. Walk more, feel more, trust your instinct. And most importantly—photograph with your heart, not your lens. Be curious, not just about subjects but about yourself. Look beyond aesthetics—chase stories, not trends. And remember, the best camera is empathy.”

One dream he holds shut is a future challenge documenting the lives of aged ladies throughout India — “A dream project would be to travel across rural and urban India documenting the lives of elderly women—guardians of memory and tradition. Their stories are vanishing, and I want to preserve them visually and emotionally.”

Goutam prefers to depart room for the viewer’s creativeness. “Each photograph I share is a fragment of a larger mosaic—of a nation, a city, or a soul. Whether it’s a silent figure in a crowd or a burst of color in a moment of prayer, these frames are my way of understanding life’s impermanence and beauty. I prefer to leave my photographs to the imagination and the interpretation of the viewer. Giving a context many times sets a bias or perception. I believe art is subjective and it’s always interpretative.”

To Learn More Visit:

Goutam Maiti
https://www.goutammaiti.com/
https://www.facebook.com/goutam.maiti

Soledad Quartucci, CEO, Latina Republic