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Photo: K. Pichumani

Click and tell At the exhibition

One of the quartet, V.S. Asokan (founder director, Chhaya Advertising) has an amazing eye for picture possibilities. Birds sitting on overhead power transmission cables against a sky, splattered with the distinct marks of the setting sun, seem woven like flowers into a garland. Another frame, titled “Dream”, holds the hazy image of a butterfly. Explaining the photo, 74-four-year-old Asokan says, “A butterfly is beautiful. With your camera, you can’t better it, only interpret it.” Through haze and mist, Asokan infuses his subjects with an atmosphere that lend them a striking vagueness and a surreal charm.

Having worked with him, Bangalore-based lensman Moorty vouches for Asokan’s ability to produce dramatic one-shot pictures. “Most often, he does not shoot a subject twice.” The photo of three dabchicks swimming in Bangalore’s Hebbal lake, the equivalent of Cooum, which suggest a clever use of camera to achieve a rare optical effect, is one such picture. Asokan does not labour at symbolisms, but the ones he manages are striking. Showing the legs of a lady with her slippers placed neatly next to her legs, he has titled the photo, “Rest”.

Asokan’s friend and the driving force behind this exhibition (called ’”f64”), Bangalore-based Bhupat Shah (founder, Bangalore Surgicals) has demonstrated that beauty lies at our doorsteps. Through light and shade, he has made the cacti and worms in his garden powerful aesthetic statements. Bhupat has also brought home images from far. One photo shows a man quelling the fear of a girl as their boat is about to enter the Blue Grotto, near the Island of Capri. With hog deers from the Corbett National Park, castles from Austria, snow-topped Swiss Alps, a tiger from the Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary and snapshots from other places, Bhupat’s collection is a rich Kaleidoscope.

Through his photos, B. Ramadoss (senior superintendent, Treasury Department, Government of Tamil Nadu) displays his fascination for temple architecture, symbols and rites. A picture of the disused wheel of a temple car is accompanied by a caption that seems to ask if the wheel is resting or rusting. From a series on Mundanthurai tiger sanctuary, one frame shows an arresting image of a dead tree. Says Ramadoss, “In Nature, nothing is wasted. The tree serves as a perch for birds and home to worms and other insects.” Another series is on dancers, because his daughter Vaanmadhi is one.

To this exhibition, Asokan’s son-in-law T. Rabeshen (founder and creative head, Chhaya Studio, Sri Lanka) adds interesting photos from weddings and of people. These are simple pictures with a charm of their own. Not present at the exhibition, Rabeshen says in a brief note, “Creativity has no boundaries or pretensions; what matters is the end result, don’t you agree?”

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