HYDERABAD: Time is not a mere list of events and feelings that define life, it is fluid. It flows and photographers like professor Parmanand Dalwadi know it too well. The photographer has seized extraordinary moments from Paris’s ordinary life in the 1970s from the time’s linear force through his camera. He who is in town to exhibit his works at the State Gallery of Art, speaks to CE about his longing to go back to Paris.
“I never got a chance to go back to Paris. In the last 50 years, I made several attempts to visit France, to my disdain, all went in vain. Later, I visited Amsterdam, Switzerland and other parts of Europe, America and even Japan, but never France,” says Parmanand, who still dearly holds the memories of Paris from the times past, for it was France where he met his wife Radium.
“Time once gone, is gone forever. Photographers have to live in the moment to seize it and make it timeless ever after,” says Parmanand who teaches at Ahmedabad’s Nirma University in the Department of Architecture and Design. Around 50 photographs at the exhibit show unusual situations captured in Paris during the ’70s. His pictures are replete with humour, tenderness, and authentic impressions of French society. A story accompanies every photograph. Parmanand captured all the photos during weekends.
“When in France, my weekdays were packed. I was working under globally renowned French humanist photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. I used to complete 2,000 to 3,000 pictures a day in his pictorial lab and was extremely tired when I reached home. Later, I occupied myself learning with renowned photographer Pierre Gassmann, with funding from the Ford Foundation,” recalls Parmanand.
On the weekends, Parmanand was out in the streets of Paris, looking for moments. “I used to make the best use of daylight until I got drained photographing or roaming,” he says. He has also worked under photographers Wulfgang Siol of Germany, Rene Groebli of Switzerland, and Bob Gill from London.
The exhibition is open till June 8 and was made possible with a collaboration between Alliance Française of Hyderabad, the Indian Photo Festival and the Chitramayee State Gallery of Art. The event is part of the Bonjour India festival, an initiative by the Embassy of France and its cultural service Institut Français en Inde, the Alliance Française Network, and the Consulates of France.