He chose photography over MBA 23 years ago, and he doesn’t regret it. Fine art photographer Amit Verma is showcasing 25 photographs at an exhibition titled Light and Lines in the Middle Land at the India Habitat Centre. Shot during a 10-day trip through the Spiti Valley in 2016, these images are a combination of the region’s wild beauty, a photographer’s control, and the optics of the Leica M camera.
“I developed an interest in black and white photography in 2011 when my mentor and famous photographer Rakesh Sahai introduced me to the works of Brazillian photographer Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado. For his book titled Genesis – released in 2012, Salgado worked for over 11 years.
At a time when digital and colour photography are taking over, he was doing wonders in monochrome.
"His works made me study and observe black and white photography in detail. I started following people working in the medium," says Verma, who has worked for various magazines during the past 15 years.
Of these photographs, his favourites are the pictures Angular Light, shot in Kaza, and a picture of Beas river. “Angular Light is the picture of a mountain slope that had a grass that looked like velvet. To show it in the picture, I needed to have light at 45 degrees to get the maximum depth. When angular light falls on a geographical structure, it creates plenty of drama. I kept waiting for this shot because the sky was overcast most of the time. The moment, I picked up my bag to go back, I got the perfect light for milliseconds and got this shot.”
The other one is titled Silent Protest, an early morning shot of the Beas river flowing deep down in the valley.
“It’s close to my heart because it was the last shot of my trip. I was coming down the hill and imagined the road bend from where I had to take the shot. But when one is capturing nature, the shot depends on how nature behaves. It was sunny, there was mist on the water, and the air was foggy – creating different layers of shades. To capture all that, I took the help of the leaves of a tree. I took the shot in a way that sun was hidden behind the leaves and one can see the magic has been created,” adds Verma, who got his first camera, a Nikon FM2, when he was in Class 7. The captions have been written by his creative partner Melissa Alipalo from the US.
The sudden death of mentor Sahai in 2016 was a jolt for him that motivated him to work on monochrome and a movie titled Kodachrome made him realise the importance of photo prints.
“I felt that there is no point in making bucket lists. When we die, our works will keep lying in a corner of the house. And nobody will know who we were. So, it was the right time to do something,” says the 44-year-old self-taught photographer. He is planning an exhibition of standalone black and white prints next.
When: January 8-12; 10am to 8pm ,
At: Convention Center Foyer, India Habitat Centre