“When you photograph people in colour, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!”
Vibrantly dark pieces together a collection of monochrome photographs that tell a story all by itself. We're trying to define the art of photography and what it means to be a photographer, the ability to capture and turn the most mundane of settings into something exciting and wonderful. Here in our first blog, we have tried to explore the bounds of black and white photography, paired along with some magnificent shots.
Photography has always been an art of observation. It is about finding something interesting in an ordinary setting and making it look extraordinary. It has very little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them. It is an art. Capturing the right photo does not mean to get the most beautiful of shots, but the most meaningful. Because a photograph is not merely an image but a text itself, open to our interpretation and imagination. And for this purpose, there are rarely better examples to this than monochrome images. The absence of diverse colours provides the viewers with a clean canvas to work on. And in this image, it evokes nostalgia largely due to its monochrome nature and reminds us of our past adventures.
A strong moment is more than highlighting a particular subject or action in time. Creating a moment in a photograph is about having all the elements in a frame come together as to tell a captivating story when every part of the picture interacts with the other parts in a way that the viewer might think, but this is special and probably doesn't happen that often. The subject of the photographs, how it is presented, and the array of the pictures emphasize the shifting handling of time and seasons. The sequence creates the presence of life.
We aim to probe the different settings of life and find frames that bring out the beauty in it. Through the change in setting and theme of the photographs, it brings together the different elements associated with monochrome images. By this, one could effectively identify the role of ‘shadows’ in such images. Due to the absence of colour, it is important to distinguish different elements in the image and shadows are the defining factor for this. To highlight such differences, we are presenting to you a photography series which falls under three themes: ‘Seasons, Sea La Vie and Habit of life’.
SEASONS
“There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature, the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter”. —Rachel Carson
From spring's hopeful new blooms and fall’s exquisite array of colours to winter’s magic and summer’s energy, each season abounds with different types of natural beauty to explore and admire. The word “seasons” can also describe a period or phase of your life. If this context resonates with you, the photographs chosen in this series are those which expresses the seasonality of life itself or the present season of your life. The season decerned through the photographs is “fall”. How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and colour are their last days….
1. “And all at once, summer collapsed into fall”
"There is something incredibly nostalgic and significant about the annual cascade of autumn leaves.” Joe L. Wheeler
As you drive through the calm Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Masinagudi, Tamil Nadu, it evokes stories of the nature, trees, fallen leaves, and romance of the sunset. Masinagudi is a beautiful hill station and a well-established tourist hotspot nestling amidst the Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiri district. Situated at a drive of just one hour from the hill station of Ooty, it forms a part of the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary. Falling leaves and the colours of the season always have a thousand stories to whisper. The Mudhumalai wildlife sanctuary is covered with beautiful hills and wildlife such as royal Bengal tigers, Indian leopard and much more. And the above picture epitomises the very essence of Masinagudi.
Though it remains colourless, the tress, the leaves along with the dynamic sky gives life to this image. Shadows are also another highlight of this image. The dried-up leaves followed by the withering trees and the vast sky helps us to immediately connect with the season of autumn, the period of transition. It was at this decisive moment that the branches, leaves, trees, sun, other natural elements that are framed within the photo seemingly stretches to an endless extent. Photographs are a way of shouting, of freeing oneself, not of proving or asserting one’s originality but instead realising that it is a way of life.
2. NAKED TREES
“Yes, there's something about those naked trees...
...those hauntingly beautiful, mesmerizing, naked trees” ...
The faint sunlight was filtered through dense clouds. A slight nip in the air started to culminate into cool wind. With hopes in our hearts and curious eyes, we entered the dense and lush green forest of Bandipur National Park. Bandipur National Park used to be the Maharaja Hunting Reserve of the Kingdom of Mysore. Established in the year 1974, under the Tiger Project as a protected tiger reserve, Bandipur is perhaps the most popular national park in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is best known for its diverse wildlife with different biomes in the dry deciduous forest.
The naked trees that have been portrayed in this picture possess a certain beauty as the trees in this picture can be related to life. They are like lonely persons. Every element that is presented in its utmost purity and transparency has its beauty and the addition of artificialities will further reduce the feel. The black and white gradient effectively portrays the emotion of loneliness. It is so true that in the silence of nature one finds the true bliss. Nature evokes visions of lush meadows full of brilliantly-coloured flowers or dense forests with sky-high trees and they play a fundamental role in our lives. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than the beautiful, strong trees. When a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all the suffering, all the sickness, all the happiness and prosperity stand truly written, the narrow years and the luxurious years, the attacks withstood, the storms endured.
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