It is that time of the year when the Christmas spirit is at an all-time high with families and friends getting together to celebrate. But in today’s busy world, the most common refrain heard from everyone around is ‘Where is the time?’ Be it time to pursue interests, take time off to travel or just catch up with friends and families, 24 hours seem too less a time to pack it all in.
What if an angel descends from the heavens and tries to make sense of the chaos and noise that we live in? Transferring this fantasy to the lens is young photographer Vishnu who decided to set such a theme for his photo shoot.
Instead of sticking to the cold confines of a studio floor, Vishnu decided to take his photography out to the streets to get candid expressions.
“I wanted to do a Christmas theme and decided to set my photo series around that. So I got model Riah Kapoor to act the part of an angel who comes down to earth on Christmas. She gets lost in the milling crowd and soon feels isolated and lonely where nobody has time for anybody else but is in a mad rush and she soon starts feeling afraid,” he explains the concept.
Vishnu shot at crowded areas like markets, traffic signals,airport and cinema halls in Coimbatore. This was all done in candid mode from a long distance using tele-lense without the crowd being aware that they were photographed.
He adds, “I just let the model walk among the crowd though people were curious they did not approach her.”
The shoot took place at night and they shot between 8 pm — 2 am with each shoot taking almost half an hour. Once the crowd saw the cameras, they surrounded Vishnu and his crew and asked to see the pictures and happily took it in their stride.
Vishnu did have apprehensions about beautiful Riah walking the streets at night and he confesses, “Riah liked the concept which is why she decided to do the shoot. It was a risk and Riah was scared of the night shoot, so I took the support of my friends who were there at hand to prevent any untoward incident from happening. We assured her that we would all be at an arm’s length and I had help from some members of a dance company in Coimbatore.”
The police patrol did stop them once but when they knew the intention of the crew, they were let off.
Vishnu, who is based in Kochi, speaks about the reasons for choosing Coimbatore. “A model posing outdoors in Kochi is not a new sight and the ambiance too was lacking.”
Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.
