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Beyond a pretty picture
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Photographer Mahesh Nair talks about his book on photography, …Let There be Light
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Awesome One of Mahesh Nair’s pictures from “…Let There be Light”
No place is boring,” said Robert Adams, a well known photographer. These words sound true when one sees Mahesh Nair’s breathtaking photographs, especially of places that one may have seen many times. But when they have been shot from Nair
’s Canon 5D and developed from US-3 transparencies, they assume a different character altogether.
What makes this marketing professional-turned-photographer’s works unique is the interplay of light and shade in them. Most of them have a three-dimensional effect and they seem to transport one to the location itself.
A coffee-table book of 185 pages called “…let there be light” on his magnificent pictures of Leh, Ladakh, Kashmir, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Assam, Rajasthan, Malaysia, Ireland, Borneo and Scotland was launched by Roli Books.
Nair says: “I underexpose most of my pictures. I play with only light. I don’t add colour to them. I never choose a particular time to shoot. But the fact is places like Zanskar and Padum have ethereal beauty. One doesn’t need to be a photographer to shoot them.”
Nair’s actual passion is wildlife photography but he has made a name in landscapes. “It is because wildlife photography has no market except when WWF or magazines buy them.” Even general photography, he admits, has less takers. “Photographers don’t make grades because they need to go beyond shooting just a pretty picture. My pictures are appreciated because the buyers have understood that there is a difference between creative photography and documenting photography. Photographs for many are a substitute for painting that they can’t afford. I have an edge over many because of my marketing background.”
And today Nair sells his single edition picture for Rs. 60,000 and those with three to eight prints for Rs. 15,000. And his picture sizes are generally huge (36x20 inches to 54x36 inches).
His other upcoming projects include documenting high altitude places such as Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim etc., for WWF, and shooting tough terrains where the Army jawans work.
RANA SIDDIQUI
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