Surreal & ethereal

Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer - and often the supreme disappointment. - Ansel Adams

Merely gazing at Shreekant’s Somany’s photographs mounted at the Kalakriti Art Gallery make you wonder in awe not just at the magnificence of the subject – here the Himalayas – nature in its resplendent best but also the way the photographs have been captured. Shreekant Somany has surely created magic through the lens in capturing the grandeur of the mighty Himalayas and the people living amidst it.

The kaleidoscope, Somany presents, is stunning no doubt, picturesque making one thirst or yearn to visit those places. He must have waited for hours or days and at great altitudes to capture those fleeting moments for posterity. This exhibition, titled Himalayas: Landscapes for the Soul, provides a glimpse of the endless beautiful canvas of the Himalayas which have been painstakingly captured by Somany over several tips, treks and journeys in the mighty mountains in Tibet, Ladakh, Nepal and Bhutan.

These pictures have been shot with different cameras ranging from the basic Panasonic ones to complex Canon 7D and 6D. “I had a passion for photography. I had to borrow a camera to shoot my first photo. Photography was dormant for a few years,” says Somany who would take some pictures on some journeys of nature, people etc. Shooting some photos displayed in the show he says is always a stroke of luck – like the Sunrise over Stok range, Khardungla Road, Ladakh which is so fascinating to view.

“Besides being known for his business acumen what really outlines Somany’s personality is his passion to discover the new, and tread the road less travelled. A photographer by heart and a nature lover by soul, the world, for Mr Somany, is like a beautiful storybook, where every image has multiple meanings and a thousand stories hidden in it. And with every photograph that he clicks he discovers a new leaf of this book. A leaf that gives a new perspective, a leaf that opens the doors of imagination, and tells a new tale.”

Somany has indeed captured many interesting things besides the mighty snow-capped mountains, dawn and dusk, night sky on the mountains, candid portraits of people living there, some fauna and flora. Although nature is predominant the portraits too are intriguing and arresting. Some photographs have a surreal and ethereal effect on the eyes and even a spiritual impact too.

Many leave you wonderstruck about nature. While most of the photographs are in colour, a few black and white ones like Starlight Night Sky- Ulley Village Ladakh, Spindrift (Annapoorna Base Camp) and 360 Degrees Halo are impressive. Somany’s works exemplify what to a large extent what Jacques-Henri Lartigue said “Photography to me is catching a moment which is passing, and which is true.” The exhibition is on view till April 10 from 11 am to 7 pm.

By:Radhika Rajamani