Every writer, at some point in his career, faces writer’s block. A time when his imagination fails to take off the runway of creativity and gets stuck in the quotidian details of the mundane. Some kind of break or distraction is necessary to reignite his creative juices and then get back to writing. A similar challenge is faced by every creative artiste and hence a visual artist is no different. They either start working in different mediums to explore and experiment, or take up an alternate creative practice to express their thoughts. Artist Sanjay Bhattacharya chose the latter route and took up photography to overcome his creative block.
Song from Anand
His recent solo show, ‘Na Mone Lagene’ featured around 20 photographs he has clicked since 2005. The title, he says, is borrowed from the popular song, ‘Naa Jiya Laage Na’ from the film,
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“It happened with me too. An artist, many times, is confined within four walls and needs to break free. So, when that period came in my life, I took to the camera to look for inner peace,” he adds.
Unlike painting, which is more of a work in isolation, photography is about building an interpersonal relationship with surrounding and people. “One learns a lot about nature and its beauty because they become your subjects and they need to be observed keenly.”
Sanjay’s tryst with photography was an outcome of his disillusionment with the artistic community. Without delving into the details he points out that something happened in 2005 and he decided to leave the art world, abruptly. He undertook a trip to several Indian cities like Jaisalmer and clicked around 4,000 rolls in 6-7 months. “Imagine clicking so many rolls non-stop for those months. I had left my house in irritation and found solace in capturing the beauty of nature and people. This was the beginning of a serious love affair with photography.”
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Love for medium
This is how his love for this medium began, even though he had first bought a camera in 1987, it took him around 15 years to discover his love for this medium. “I became so much interested in compositions and textures that photographs gave me. The interesting play between light and shadow. I try to capture frames as paintings,” he says.
The interplay between shadow and light fascinates Sanjay. One of his works from the ‘Emerging Krishna’ series is part of this exhibit and in the photograph both — the metal sculpture and shadow are in the frame. “I started this series in 2012. I would use various backdrops like the trunk of a tree or my studio to capture the silhouette of Krishna in the shadow. I remember, one day, early morning sunlight bathed my studio. I swiftly put the Krishna statute in that streak of light and clicked the frame. Both the shadow and the statute have come so beautifully in the frame.”
Elaborating on the difference between painting and photography, Sanjay says, “Painting is in your control. You can decide the composition and make changes to it, add colour to it as per your desire. But, in photography, one has to be at the right time and at the right place. I believe that one needs some blessing to get the right frame.”
For instance, he says, “When I went to Ladakh immediately after the roads open for tourist in June, I was lucky to spot a place which was blanketed in fresh snow and it looked serene. I captured it immediately. So, I firmly believe that I was lucky to get a click like that. If people had come before me they would have walked on the fresh snow. So, one can’t deny the role luck plays in getting a good shot, along with developing an eye for the frame.”
The frames have captured picturesque beauty of the landscape, scenic nature, and even the everyday utensils in an artistic manner. “There is a beauty in everything, it all depends on what you want to capture.”