what a treat it was to visit Magnum photographer Raghu Rai's exhibition at Bengal Gallery!...... I've seen Raghu Rai's works and always found myself amazed...... but seeing those same pictures in front of your own eyes as massive printouts is something different..... for me, the visit to Raghu Rai's exhib was almost a 'life-changing' thing.......
each of his works were so expressive and descriptive that it was very difficult for me to move from one picture to another....... I had seen most of the displayed images online..... had admired them, but was never able to "touch" them....... most of the images had enough vastness to captivate a viewer for minutes...... they're not just photographs, they're a study of human life......
most of the images had the potential to look like cluttered images to the untrained eye...... where there were too many things in the image and everything was in focus..... but once one spent some time in front of the pics, he/she would begin to realise how much detail one image contained and how they completed the story that the photographer wanted to say....... those tiny details showed the keen eye of Raghu Rai; an eye for detail that is difficult to match......
each image contained a decisive moment that made it unique....... it made me wonder how on earth was he able to manage that moment in every single shot!....... that gave me an idea why Raghu Rai is considered one of the bests in the world......
his shots reminded me that every part of a frame is precious and should be utilised..... and what did he fill the frame with?...... was he always able to find something to fill the frame?....... yes! always!....... he filled the frames with life.......
most of the images had great depth in them...... most of the thing in focus........ they all combine to tell a story........ and yes, you needed those massive prints to realise that...... tiny thumbnail shots are no way to study the works of this genius......
one would be able to find that the images were not taken with utilisation of hardware's extremeties...... they were just as we see the world...... there was no use of extreme wide-angle distortion or flattened tele perspectives...... they gave you a feel that you're part of the image too....... you could touch life just by staring at them......
for me, this was a lesson in photography, a lesson in viewpoint, a lesson in philosophy........ we're so easily attracted to images that have very few elements in them...... they're so easy to read, even if you see them as a thumbnail...... but does it always tell the story?....... is life so uncluttered?....... is life so isolated?.......
Raghu Rai's prints have made think twice about what to do with a camera.......
Sunday 13 September 2009
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