‘I am like a bird’
NANDINI NAIR
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Nicholas Chorier, a seasoned kite photographer, makes his camera fly and the imagination soar.
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Photo: Anu Pushkarna
aerial view Nicholas Chorier in New Delhi.
His photographs are the gods’ eye-view. French photographer Nicholas Chorier is, probably, the only professional kite photographer in the world. Two hundred of his best photographs have been compiled into “Kite Eye View India between Eart
h and Sky”, published by Roli books. An exhibition of his work was recently held at Alliance Francaise.
His large canvases make familiar scenes poetic. Shot from above, the Lotus Temple, Delhi, becomes a nonagon bud with unfurling petals. The camel fair of Pushkar comes alive with diminished camels and enlarged shadows.
Having flown kites for over 20 years, Chorier became a professional kite photographer nearly 10 years ago. Preferring to call himself a “craftsman” rather than an “artist”, Chorier builds the kites himself. His largest kite measures around 40 square feet. He flies his single-line kite to a height of 30 to 40 metres, till it catches the wind. When the kite is stable, he rigs up the camera. He carries his remote control on one shoulder. The video monitor, through which he frames his photographs, he hangs around his neck.
Kite photography requires a coming together of various elements. “When the combination is right,” he says with a beatific smile, “I lift off the ground like a monk.” Explaining his craft, he says, “I am just one piece in the orchestra,” adding, “My real boss is the wind.” As the traction on the kite’s string can be up to 20 kgs, Chorier is careful to study the wind’s humidity and strength. He listens to the leaves and watches the birds to judge the wind. He had to reckon with the altitude and the gusty wind when shooting in Ladakh. At minus 15 degrees Celsius, he broke his camera rig. But the kite is designed to be very steady, “When you look at the monitor, it is like time has stopped,” he asserts. It is still enough even for video footage.
Though he says, “I love every place I have shot in,” he reveals that shooting in Varanasi was “tremendously exciting”. On a still day, he had to ride on a boat, down the Ganga, to catch the wind. Shooting the ghats required that he attend to the speed and direction of the boat, the strength of the kite line, the orientation of the camera, the quality of light and the personality of the wind.
Unlike aerial photography which requires airstrips and infrastructure, kite photography is beautiful in its simplicity. “In a helicopter, you steal the photographs, and go away. But in kite photography, every picture has a story. I am with the people, on the ground. They help me,” he explains.
Chorier has been visiting India for 10 years now. He first came here while researching the South Asian kite tradition. An eloquent admirer of India, he had his share of mishaps. He has been arrested four times. He was suspected of being a spy. While shooting the Chinese fishing nets in Cochin, the neighbouring Marine base raised an alarm. When photographing Mahabalipuram, he was accused of spying on the nuclear power plant. In North India he has to guard his kite against the attacks of the local kites. But Chorier has braved these setbacks with stupendous results.
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