Cityscapes in Monochrome

Anirudh Ganapathy uses an age-old photo processing technique to capture Chennai in vintage frames.

March 05, 2015 03:51 pm | Updated 03:51 pm IST

anirudh

anirudh

Their smiling faces light up the frame as they pose for the photograph. Clad in rags, the street children stand together, arms over each other’s shoulder, innocence shining bright on their faces. In contrast is a group of young boys, eyes glinting, smartly clad, palms in their trouser pockets and posing like their favourite film hero would do.

Both prints tell a story, only that one belongs to the 1920s Madras and the other was shot a couple of months ago in Chennai! And it’s that story of a city and its inhabitants, which Anirudh Ganapathy has caught on camera, and showcased through 30-odd prints at an on-going exhibition titled ‘Madras: Capturing the Constant in Change,’ at Dakshina Chitra, till March 30.

What makes the prints interesting is the technique that Anirudh has used – Contact Printing Process that dates back to the late 1800s and early 1900s. “I learnt this at an Art Residency Project in the Sundarbans, conducted by the Goa Centre for Alternative Photography. It was fascinating. I wanted to test it out. So when I got the opening, I decided to go for it.”

Anirudh set out with his Nikon D1300 and Tamron lens, walking through the main roads, by-lanes and the obscure streets of Chennai, clicking away. “I was looking for a thread, a connect. Through the photographs I’ve tried to capture the undying spirit of the city that has remained unchanged through the years. The display features old photographs of Madras from the collection of collector-photographer Desikan Krishnan. I’ve recreated the old, famous photographs of Madras, by first re-shooting them from the same locations. All the photographs have then been printed using the contact printing processes. This gives even the new images a vintage feel and a pedestal to compare change through the ages.”

So, there’s a shot of the Mylapore temple in the 1920, spacious and open, as opposed to one taken in 2015, where the gopuram is hardly visible. Similarly, prints of Mowbray’s Road in 1885 and now or the Central Station are so similar yet quite different. “I wanted to capture the change and yet look for things unchanged.”

Anirudh explains a little about the Salt Print and Cyanotype techniques, he has so painstakingly employed, working out of home. Salt printing involves treating paper with a solution of salt and silver nitrate and then exposing it to the Sun. In Cyanotype, a surface coated with a blue light sensitive emulsion is exposed to UV rays to get a cyan blue print. The prints are then washed with tea or kaduka essence or even coffee to lend different shades. Each print takes about an hour or so to complete, says Anirudh. And the result is amazing, really!

Why such a laborious process when everything is digital now! “Well, there’s a lot of charm in all the things I love - tradition, antique,” says the 23-year-old architecture graduate from IIT Rourkee, who has trekked the Himalayas, worked with the Kumaon-based NGO, AVANI, and backpacked across the North-East.

As he walks me through his pictures, I realise that Anirudh is unlike most youngsters his age. He is passionate about ecology, loves to create and is always looking for a new challenge. Besides photography, he loves painting. “Water colours. They are quick and easy,” he smiles.

(The prints are up for sale and cost between Rs. 1,500 and Rs. 3,000. Anirudh can be contacted at rudrart.in)

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