The Indians : 150 years of Indian Photography

The term “master photographer’ is open to abuse and although it is not a term I really like to use, it is not easy to find a word to describe someone such as Raghu Rai, an Indian photographer of international repute. Photography maybe American but when one comes across it in a place like India, it is certain to be worthy of interest at the very least. Raghu Rai knew Henri Cartier-Bresson well so it is not as though his work is just Indian yet his subject matter often is; I know of no one who describes the country and its’ people so well, who seems able to squeeze out the essence of its’ meaning.

Unbelievably, I manage to arrive almost half an hour late for our meeting. This is largely my fault as in spite of the traffic and my driver needing to carry out an errand en route, it took me too long to pack my bags for the flight I was about to take. This had to be done judiciously so that I would not have to pay too much extra in luggage charges.

When I arrive, slightly breathless having jogged up to Raghu’s fourth floor office in Merauli, a suburb of southern Delhi, he is not there so I sit for awhile, scanning the books on his shelf, eventually picking up a volume he once did on the Taj Mahal where I had been the day before. His images, made in the days of slide film, are atmospheric, the Taj looming out of the morning mist, seen from across the river or from the top of a nearby building; it may be that he used a helicopter for some images. There is one image though that echoes the kind of image I strive for, that of two people with the Taj Mahal as their backdrop. Here, one man is gesturing to the other as if in the depth of some debate or in the act of making a philosophical point; this echoes the guru-sila or teacher-student relationship that is such an important part of Indian life; all this is seen against the detailed façade of the Taj Mahal dome, a backdrop which occupies at least 90% of the photograph. Another image revealing intricate architectural details, is carefully composed with one building cleverly juxtaposed behind another.

Raghu appears. “That is old stuff!” he remarks of the Taj Mahal book, suggesting it is dark and almost dingy in places and almost makes him feel uneasy to look at nowadays. A new volume on the Taj is expected from him in the near future that will be much better printed than this volume from a quarter of a century ago and will also contain new photographs. He hands me a copy of one of his latest books.

The new book is called “The Indians; 150 years of Indian Portrait Photography” and contains old photographs of which some 80% come from his private collection. These are images from a largely bygone era yet one of fascination for one sees images of people that once loomed large; the cover is of a Nautch girl (Nautch is an English corruption of the Hindi word for dance, nachan) possessed of a beauty that can only be Indian while other photographs reveal characters such as Jawahlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. The second half of the book contains images of people that Raghu has photographed personally and although some are now dead such as Mother Teresa and Srimati Indira Gandhi, there are others such as the Man Booker prize-winning novelist Arundhati Roy who is very much alive. There is a good selection of people from different walks of life. The images are all in black and white except for a couple of group photographs at the end that are entirely digitally produced colour images.

One portrait makes me laugh. It is of India’s urine drinking former prime minister, Moraji Desai, who lived to be almost 100 years old. Here he stands as if looking down his nose at the photographer. These portraits are likely to resonate with the viewer in a way that depends on what the viewer thinks or knows of the person being represented. For instance, probably my favourite portrait that contains a triptych of images, is that of Jiddu Krsnamurti, an extraordinary philosopher of Indian origin, whose teaching is known around the world. He started a school called Brockwood Park in southern England that still operates as well as other learning centres throughout the world. The first two images reveal to a certain extent the virtual frustration Krsnamurti seems to have experienced in trying to communicate his teaching to others as he is seen not looking at the camera but with his hand to his face; the final full page image shows the sublime beauty of the man Krsnamurti as he beams silently at the camera. Such sublimity is also seen in the faces of the classical musicians Raghu Rai has photographed. The image of Arundhati Roy is another that catches my eye as she gazes at one from the sunlight and shadow of her room. A number of the portraits are set up with sunlight and shadow since they have been taken inside and are directly lit by window light providing an ambience that helps create an atmosphere which flash or an overhead light bulb can so easily remove.

There are photographs of musicians, the magic of their work revealed in their expressions. The cartoonist Laxman looks out at one with a deadpan expression. The book is an impressive testimony not just to Raghu’s photography yet also to Indian portrait photography if not photographic portraiture as a whole.

Raghu also talks about different bodies of work and the way exhibitions, in particular, tend to gather together a jumble of images to represent a theme or topic rather than allowing a subject to naturally arise out of a photographer’s work. Hence, there are books and magazine articles done to cover a particular topic that use photographs to illustrate the chosen theme while there are books done to illustrate a particular photographers work and it is these latter that are likely to be of more intrinsic value.

Before I leave, Raghu shows me some prints that have been lying on his desk; they are from a recent trip to Goa. One view is of people interacting with the sea; he points out the subdued use of colour that is there but not shouting at one. Had it been one of my photographs, I would probably have worked it to create a more optimised image, lifting shadows and making the whole scene more bright and breezy, in tune with what is normally considered a good image. However, for a moment Raghu invites me into his world, one of more burnished colouration, deep and sensitively passionate. He shows me an image where there seems to be too much magenta yet for Raghu it needs more yellow rather than more green to balance the magenta. The final image is of a couple of tourists on a Goan beach; the image has an asymmetrical composition that seems to mirror the awkwardness of the two women as they make their way into “Shams Shack”.

Then there is the rush to the airport. I have spent a little longer than I expected with Raghu yet a few moments with him seem more worthwhile than a flight I could catch another day if necessary. It is not easy to put into words what Raghu is saying through the medium of photography; that is something only the images can tell.

acquiring permission to photograph with a tripod at the Taj Mahal

Its' a three o'clock in the morning start from Delhi; we reach Agra at about 6.00 a.m and I ask the driver to take me to Mehtab Bagh, which is part of the Taj Mahal complex but lies on the opposite side of the river where it was rediscovered during the latter part of the twentieth century by an American scholar called Moynihan.

My driver seems to be going the wrong way but insists no less then three times that he is in fact correct. When we arrive at the Eastern Gate entrance to the Taj I realise he is bluffing and find someone to explain to him where I really want to go. After this, we retrace our steps but are soon at the Mehtab Bagh which is owned by the Archaeological Survey of India who won't allow any tripod on their premises, a fact that I am only too aware of.

Photographing the Taj Mahal from the north side in the early morning does not produce much more than a silhouette yet the mist rising from the river is atmospheric while the rising sun's first rays also help to create drama particularly as it hits the east facing wall of the mosque that lies west of the tomb. Further interest is added by birds flying along the river below.

At about eight o'clock we leave for the Oberoi hotel, Amarvilas, that is said to have a superb view of the Taj Mahal. I eat breakfast here and afterwards ask to be shown to the terrace upstairs to make my photograph. Permission to do this is however refused.

The next stop is the office of the Archaeological Survey of India where a few weeks before I had been to sign and fill in the necessary documentation. On arriving here, I am told that permission will not be granted but when I point out my earlier visit, an officer suggests I come back after an hour. This is how I find myself sitting in an internet cafe in Agra, somewhat taken aback at the difference between the opulence of the Oberoi Hotel and a slum I have just seen from a nearby bridge.Such an observation might be considered western or foreign yet one can not avoid the disparity.

In an hour, I expect to be meeting Mr.Dwivedi at the ASI to see whether permission can be granted. If not, I shall visit the Taj Mahal and make my architectural style photographs without a tripod, focusing only on the buildings I have researched rather than the fascinating life that goes on around the monument during the day.

Sometimes, I wonder if I might make a book of my Taj Mahal photographs but the ASI (Archaeological Society of India) would probably block such publication unless perhaps they got some kind of royalty from it. Almost certainly, they would want to control the content but that would ruin the project as my photographing at the Taj Mahal is about envisioning a contemporary Taj Mahal rather than a monument from the past as this has been done and done and redone more times than one would like to remember. The Taj Mahal is more than an architectural marvel, it is a world icon.

I return to the office of the Archaeological Survey of India and am lead in to meet a woman who tells me point blank that it won't be possible for me to get permission to photograph today. She then asks me to be shown into another office where I meet someone else who in response to my enquiry, looks up for a split second to look at me, then looks down at the papers he is presently dealing with, offering me no reply.

I point out that I have been to this office before, almost a month ago, and filled in the appropriate form; the man asks me to wait which I do.

After about a quarter of an hour, I am shown a form with my name on it and asked if this refers to me. I reply in the affirmative and take out my passport as proof. Another ten minutes or so of paper shuffling, people coming in and out, and with a flourish, a form is presented to me which just needs signing. Against all the odds, I have acquired the necessary permission.

Reading the terms of the agreement, I notice that there does not seem to be too much in the way of copyright restriction; the ASI seem happy for one to use photographs of the monument in any publication, they do however request three copies free of charge. This seems quite reasonable. Formerly, they wanted three copies of every photograph one took which in the days of negative film was not really practical.

Now to the Taj Mahal and it is not long before I am outside the Eastern Gate, the first of the buildings that I am photographing as part of my assignment. Of course, photographing from the road outside the Taj Mahal complex, does not need written permission from the ASI yet it is not long before a security guard comes over to let me know in no uncertain terms that I am not allowed to photograph at this place. Although it is effectively irrelevant, I pull out a copy (I have had it photocopied 5 times) of the permission granted to me and the guard seems happy even congratulating me on having the permission. He hands it to another guard who also responds in an enthusiastic manner.

Once I have done my tripod mounted "Eastern Gate from the outside photograph", I enter the complex and am immediately challenged again. I present a copy of the permission granted to an officer who scrutinises it for a moment before disappearing along with one copy of the permission. Slowly, I make my way through the security check, emptying my pockets and taking everything from my bag to show the guard. In the background, I notice the guard who took my permission form, talking to one officer and then another, moving from one room and then another. Once through the security check, I am asked to wait awhile, not near the wall but next to the end of the line then again to wait near the wall as I would otherwise be blocking the flow of people coming in and out. After a few minutes, I am handed back the form and told I can proceed.

After making a few photographs of the Eastern Gate from the inside without any challenges, I move into the courtyard to photograph the second of my subjects, the Great Gate, which I do without any other challenges. Then moving through the Great Gate I setup the tripod and camera to photograph the mausoleum, to make the photograph that people associate with the Taj Mahal. As I am just starting to fine tune the focus and have the remote shutter release in my hands, I again experience the sound of someone shouting in my ear, "Not allowed! Not allowed! You can not use a tripod here!" and there seems to be no way to just finish the operation of making my photograph in spite of offering the permission form. Instead, I am lead to an office within the precincts of the Taj Mahal where a man behind a desk is ready to tell me that I am not allowed to photograph in the precincts of the Taj Mahal. On seeing my permission form, he insists on taking the copy for himself, which might have been problematic had I not had four others! I am now told that I shall be only allowed to photograph from the Great Gate and not venture from here into the gardens. My request to get closer to the Central Pool is ignored and at this point, I try to phone Mr. Dwivedi at the Archaeological Survey; his phone is switched off yet I sense this gesture has an effect on the official I am now confronted with. My form of permission is handed back and I am told that I can venture into the garden and that if there is any trouble, I should let him know.

For awhile, I make a number of photographs from the Great Gate platform, then I venture down the steps into the garden but have not taken more than one or two steps before I am again confronted by a guard of some kind; this one is dressed more informally and looks not unlike a gardener yet acts with the same kind of authority as the security guards. He does not want to see my papers so I suggest we return to the office in the Great Gate where the official is ready to confirm that I can photograph in the garden up to the Central Pool. Again I set off with this guard in tow and he helps me to make my photographs pointing out some rather cliched viewpoints. After an hour or so, I have finished and offer him some rupees which he refuses; probably not enough, possibly he considers it inappropriate, yet as I leave the garden complex, he gives me a warm handshake.

That seems to be the end of my troubles apart from noisy youths who try to get my attention and make jokes when I do not respond. Another photographer, who says he is a professional from Mumbai, asks me how to get permission to use a tripod; I mention the office nearby in Agra and give him the address but point out that he is unlikely to get it for today. He does not seem concerned but thinks he'll have time to visit the office before it closes. I wonder if he'll fare better as an Indian but I can't help but think he'll be met with glum looks and told to come back tomorrow; of course, on the morrow he'll be able to fill in the forms but won't get the permission.

I want to chuckle but find it hard to laugh. I had spent a lot of time to make a few photographs and been unable to really cover the subject as I wished. For that, more negotiation and forms would presumably be required. Of course, the ASI are right to act to protect the monument although tripods are unlikely to cause damage, rather it would be the even greater confusion of a mass of people swarming over the Taj Mahal trying to get past a sea of tripods that would further clog up the flow of people. The jostling on the Great Gate platform from where one can make a good photograph would be more than chaotic.

EXETER CATHEDRAL Gothic architecture

The word Gothic these days might make one think of Lady Gaga whose extraordinary fashion sense can on occasion borrow from the Gothic genre which conjures up a romantic style from bygone days. Gothic can also refer to the Goths, an East German tribe, who lived in the days of the Roman Empire. However, in the architectural context, Gothic refers to a style of architecture that developed from the Romanesque or Norman architecture that began in northern France before coming to England, initially in the eleventh century.

Before presenting these images, it was necessary to open the second and third in Photoshop to align the side, a result of parallax; work relating to exposure, framing and colouration with sharpness was mostly done in RAW.

Here is a selection of images, which appear in the order they were originally built; each one represents a different period of architecture ...

Entrance to the Chapter House, Early English

The Eastern Window, Early Decorated (geometric)

The Western Window (Later Decorated curvilinear)

Perpendicular Gothic, alternative entrance to the Chapter House

EXETER CATHEDRAL the experience

The day started with a seminar in a cloister room. Sun streaming through the window made it hard to see the image projected on the screen. We were told that this light would also prove problematic once we were inside photographing owing to the high contrast it would create. Although I accepted this, I could not help but feel it might also provide the scope for dramatic effects which Neena, the tutor, pointed out later in the lecture. I made notes of what she said, there was also a print out and the chance to download it all in a PDF from the Experience Seminars website so I do not plan to present it here.

I did not use that much equipment  in the end. Had a 50mm 1.4 for handheld shots and just stuck with the zoom (24 to 105mm) for the tripod photos otherwise I think it might have just taken too much time wandering back and forth. Did not use a spirit level (just my eyes) and will make the necessary corrections in Photoshop by cropping and removing the barrel distortion from the zoom. To spend too much time with equipment is to waste time though I might have tried the 100mm f2.8 macro.

Trying to cover the different periods of Gothic was behind what I photographed but every now and then I saw something I liked and photographed that. It would have been boring to concentrate solely on the windows. Here are some of the "other" photos that relate to People and Place ...

Priest making an announcement

Christ on cross with fire hydrant below

outside the entrance to the "early English gothic" Chapter House

pedestrians inside Exeter Cathedral

part of the guided tour inside the cathedral

woman walking outside the cathedral

Eagle lectern

EXETER CATHEDRAL camera considerations

Making a profile for my camera also seems relevant as some situations could require a high degree of colour accuracy; For the blog of this ...

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=9085464219611553136

My choice of camera is the Canon 5D Mark 11; it has a full frame sensor and is suited to indoor work.

The Live View feature is going to be helpful in framing photographs and making the correct exposure.


We are asked to bring a tripod and a cable release for the camera as well as wide lenses! This seems a bit of a contradiction because who needs wide lenses of one has a tripod .. perhaps to make grab shots !? Am also packing the 1D Mark 111 for this.


Lenses need to be from 18mm to 300mm. I do not have an 18mm only a 20mm and a 24 to 105 mm lens. For longer lenses am taking a 70 to 200 mm f4 and a 100 to 400 mm f5.6 both Image Stabilised as is the 24 to 105 mm lens. Another lens is the 50mm f1.4 which I shall stick on the 1D and use for grab shots.


My tripod head is a ball head with a swivel base that can be used to set up panoramics. I shall take another ball style head.


Flash is not advised but I am packing a 430 EX.


I do not like to think too much about equipment but sometimes one does need to plan ahead.

EXETER CATHEDRAL preparation

It seems like sense to attend a one day workshop of interior photography at Exeter Cathedral. "Experience Seminars" who are running the day are a Canon franchise and since I use Canon cameras, it might be helpful to attend and not only learn something of photographing inside but also to find out more about photographing with my particular camera. Yet I wonder whether it might all be a bit of a routine in which one is encouraged to make photographs in a particular way of certain subjects. The cathedral must have been well photographed and it would be the juxtaposition of the building with people that might be of interest.

A little background research will help me go beyond the over-driven approach that can affect the photographer when making images even if he/she does want to make images that are aesthetically pleasing!

A little research into Exeter Cathedral means a visit to their website! However, I have already heard from reading E.H.Gombrich's The Story of Art that the cathedral has fine examples of late Gothic architecture, a style that shows a marked development from the initial pure Gothic style. This latter is known as The Decorated Style and Gombrich says that the Western Window at Exeter Cathedral is a good example of the complicated tracery found in this style.

However, on the Exeter Cathedral website there is a slightly different story as it here discusses the East Window ... "Towards the end of the C14^th it was noticed that much of the tracery (stonework) of the window was rotting - probably because corrupt iron had been used in the original work. It had to be dismantled and new stone was brought from Beer quarry to replace the damaged sections and the master mason of the time, Robert Lesyngham created a new window in Perpendicular Gothic style." 

The Exeter Cathedral website only makes a brief reference to the West Window, seen best from the outside, preferring instead to focus on the Great East Window. Perhaps only a visit can sort this matter out. A little further research however, reveals that there were three main Gothic styles in the UK ...

• Early English (c. 1180−1275) includes pointed arch known as the lancet includes doorways and windows, the latter not always equilateral but sometimes being steeply pointed. Usually narrow by comparison to their height and without tracery.
• Decorated (c. 1275−1380) a style that can be broken down into the Geometric and Curvilinear styles. Windows have tracery, subdivided by mullions (vertical bars of stone) that run as high as the beginning of the arched window where they then run horizontally across the window. Above this, in the top of the window is the tracery. At first, this was geometrical but later curvilinear.
• Perpendicular (c. 1380−1520) shows slimmer stone mullions in much larger windows that reach to the top of the arch; there are other vertical mullions (supermullions) that form rectangular compartments with transoms. Other signs of this period are the beginnings of fan vaulting, doorways frequently enclosed with a square head over the arch mouldings and large elliptical mouldings.
• 
  

It would appear that all three styles can be found in Exeter Cathedral !? More information about this can be found at ...   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Gothic_architecture

Experience Seminars have also provided a map that reveals where these three styles can be found in the cathedral and yet since it is not in colour, it is not so easy to make out where the different styles are to be found.


Rummaging around a small library of guide books from places my parent's visited, I find one on Exeter cathedral. Printed in colour in 1976, one can not help but notice that although the compositions are good and the colour adequate, photography has come a long way technically since the images were made some 35 years ago.

response to Jose Navarro post on the OCA website

Jose

Your article intrigues me, sets me questioning the medium .. thanks for that!

I did not notice that Steve McCurry’s work had been referred to as “street photography” which is surely a misleading comment even with a broader definition of the “street photography” genre.

In regards to the Street Photography Now project, I have looked at the book which is impressive and has sold out on Amazon. One of the authors runs workshops in street photography and the weekly injunctions are actually quotes from street photographers (such as Bruce Gilden). These “exercises” are practical not unlike the ones on the OCA course.

Yet you raise a valid question as to whether it makes sense to adopt a certain attitude that relies on predictability when street photography is all about unpredictability. As a student at the OCA, I find myself “chewing the cud” over this particularly as I often question my motivation for doing the OCA course and what I expect to get out of it.

“People and Place”. the current course I am doing, is an interesting approach. The “exercises” are not so specific as the Street Photography Now injunctions and leave much more to the imagination and surely this is important; photography is in part mechanical yet for it to work, non-mechanical qualities are essential.

Yesterday, spending a day in London, I found only one photograph worth taking though there were endless possibilities! Yet I did visit the Edward Muyerbridge exhibition for the second time; my reason for a second visit was to analyse Muyerbridge’s treatment of the “People and Place” theme and write it up for my blog. His only “street photographs” were posed, the genre not existing in the late nineteenth century owing to the limitations of the medium.

“People and Place” is not a genre yet it does provide an interesting framework through which to consider photography. “Street Photography” is a narrower approach that relies on the instantaneous.