For Raghu Rai, people and life are precious subjects. In a career spanning four decades, the celebrated photographer has chronicled the changing face of India through his curious lens.
“Be it a landscape, monument or cityscape, it’s the people and their expressions that bring them alive,” he says. Ditching a career in civil engineering for the thrill of photography in 1965, Rai started out as a photojournalist for The Statesman in 1966. In 1977, Henri Cartier-Bresson nominated Rai to join Magnum Photos.
Even while working as a photographer and visualiser with various media in the country, Rai gave rein to his passion for nature, heritage and of course, people, through works such as Raghu Rai’s Delhi, Calcutta, The Sikhs, Khajuraho, Taj Mahal, India and Mother Teresa.
In Chennai for an exhibition of his portraits and daily-life series — bound by India as the theme, the 69-year-old Rai talks about his tryst with the State.
“In my portrait series I have captured venerable subjects such as M.S. Subbulakshmi, S. Balachander and J. Krishnamurti. Balachander was a special friend and I had great affection for him.
I have captured his magnificence at Mahabalipuram, which continues to remain a place that enchants and fascinates me.” Rai has a series on the historic shore temple at Mahabalipuram. “When I first visited Mahabalipuram in 1970, I saw the waves playing with the Temple. It was a romantic and poetic sight for me.
When I later decided to do my book on Mahabalipuram, I was disappointed by the way the conservation of the temples had ruined the aesthetics of the site. However, nature continues to play her magic at Mahabalipuram and it’s important to make oneself available to these moments - like when I shot Balachander playing his veena on a great rock there. Nature had created an entire set for me.”
The veteran photographer, who confesses to have absolutely ‘embraced digital technology’, believes that despite the technology at hand, photojournalism has no sense of exploration. “There is no digging deeper into the subject. Most seem to be carried away with the enabling technology at hand and are simply creating beautiful pictures for posterity,” he laments. Rai adds, “For me there is no meaning in capturing the predictable and the pretty. It destroys creativity.”
Rai who is known for his realism, has famously said, “A photograph has picked up a fact of life, and that fact will live forever.” Perhaps it would bode well for aspiring photographers in the city to dwell deeper on this point.
Raghu Rai will be showcasing his works at the Apparao Galleries from Feb 16 onwards.
