The collective was started by seven people | (Pic: Sashi B Das)

What’s in a frame? The power to bring about instant change. That’s what we realised with this cool collective

StreetEye Collective is for those photographers who like street and documentary photography

Now here is a collective you need to be a part of if you have an eye for street and documentary photography. StreetEye Collective, was started by ace photographers Navin Vatsa, Sashi B Das, DK Pattnayak, Sashi Das, Arek Rataj, Debrani Das and Rana Pandey. These photographers are from various parts of India including Kolkata and New Delhi. One photographer, Arek Rataj, is from the Philippines.

All these photographers have come together to express themselves through pictures and help others to do the same as well. We caught up with one of the founding members, Sashi B Das, who is currently in Mumbai for a work trip and making the most of his leisure time by capturing the city in his pictures. Formed to focus on social issues through photography, they want professional and amateur photographs to unite and help them with their purpose. "Street photography is all about how one photographer visualises the moment, it's his view. And this view is shaped through what they experience. When multiple photographers contribute to one cause, it becomes a worldview. So, our aim is to cover a wider aspect of issues," says Das, who was born in Puri. Launched in October, the forum has a Facebook page and an Instagram handle through which they showcase the works of their members. The name of their first prospective project is Voice and simultaneously, other causes will be taken up for short or long-term periods.

Apart from their Facebook page, they also have a Facebook group through which they keep in touch and share their work

But this is not a collective which merely shares pictures through their social media pages, an e-magazine is in the making too. Pictures clicked by their members and interviews of well-known photographers is what you can find in this e-magazine. Exhibitions and workshops, where they will even review pictures, are also going to be a part of their agenda. In the future, this collective aspires to reach the level that international photographic cooperative Magnum Photos is on. "I know that it sounds like a Ranji player thinking of international cricket, but aspirations need to be big," says the 43-year-old. But their first step is going to be to start making their presence felt on social media.

Their group is 500 members strong already and just like India is a diverse country, Das believes that their group too is diverse in terms of age, geography and other factors. "Many photographers are doing a great job, but they don't always get a platform. We can help their work get noticed," he says.

Some of Das' work