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Ansel Adams very rightly said, “Photography is an austere and blazing poetry of the real.” Pressing the shutter of the camera isn’t simply photography. What photographers bring to the table is mystifying and enigmatic. Their eyes catch what others might not. A blue ocean means different things to different people. A photographer will freeze that moment through their camera in different ways than one. Maybe, that is the art of living and of understanding. In this light, we present some passionate photographers of India and their comprehensive collection, narrating a plethora of stories and making memories alive. 

Raghu Rai

Photographer Raghu Rai started snapshotting the corners of life at the age of 23, in 1965. Sensitive to the hustle bustle of life around, the simplicity in the moments, and the socio-political causes, Raghu Rai has photographed some of the most monumental images and pictures ever. He is a recipient of the Padmashree, awarded for his sincere work on the Bangladeshi refugees, the war and its surrender. His photography covers all opposites, be it his body of work on the tragedy of Bhopal or capturing the colourful liveliness of the city of Varanasi. 

Dayanita Singh

Dayanita Singh describes herself as a ‘bookmaker who works with photography.’ She is famous for her portraits of the urban elites and the middle class. Singh uses sequences of photographs to narrate stories and poetic possibilities behind each photography. Primarily working with black and white portraits, however, recently Dayanita Singh has been adding colours to her photography, to understand spaces in different hues and shadows.

Pablo Bartholomew

Born in New Delhi, Pablo Bartholomew first started photography at the age of sixteen after learning the basics of photography from his father. He has been interested in stories of the people, and through his keen eye and camera, he has relentlessly brought extensive exhibitions. One of his exhibitions, ‘The Nagas’, is a classic example of his brilliancy. Journeying in and around remote villages and uphills, Pablo photographed some crucial elements of the Nagas cultures, some which you might not find today.

Sooni Taraporevala

Sooni Taraporevala is an internationally acclaimed screenwriter and filmmaker. She has written screenplays for well reputed studios—Disney, Warner Brothers, HBO, Universal, etc. Based in Mumbai, Sooni started her career as a still photographer. Over the years, she has showcased multiple photo exhibitions. One of her most renowned photograph exhibitions has been on Parsis, titled, ‘Parsis: the Zoroastrians of India–A Photographic Journey’ The work is a result of almost 20 years, which gives us a deep glimpse into the lives of the Zoroastrian community in India. Sooni Taraporevala’s trained eyes have offered us a documentary on the Parsi community through her sequences of her photographs.

Bharath Ramamruthan

Bharath Ramamruthan is India’s leading architectural, interior and travel photographer. He commenced his professional photography in 1988 and since then has delivered prolific work on India and its stupefying architecture. His eagle-eyes are sensitive to not only the structures of the architect but also its space, soul, spirit, shadows and hues. His architectural training has given him more insight into capturing the fine details and its aesthetic sensibilities.

They need to stay hydrated, just like us. They are also fans of the shortcut, the evening stroll and the midnight snack, just like us. And when you surprise them with a sudden candid-camera moment, they look a wee bit guilty, even when they are clearly doing absolutely nothing wrong.

And we all know what that’s like.

From a bobcat taking a water break on photographer Roy Toft’s property in Ramona to a short-eared owlcaught mid-bath in the Antelope Valley by photographer Roy Dunn, the subjects of the San Diego Natural History Museum’s new exhibit, “Caught on Camera: Wildlife When No One’s Watching,” are busy doing their thing on our turf.

But as these photos of Southern California wildlife taken by motion- or heat-detecting cameras remind us, these suburban yards and public thoroughfares are not really our turf at all.

“That’s what the heart of the exhibit is,” said exhibit developer Abigail Karkenny.“It’s really about the ways that people and animals are sharing space. Even when we don’t see them or hear them or think about them, they’re always there.”

On display in the museum’s top-floor photography gallery, “Caught on Camera” — which opens Nov. 18 — is divided into three sections, each devoted to a different type of camera-trap photography.

There are the stunning, artfully lit shots caught by camera-traps set up by professional photographers like Toft, Dunn and by the late Tony Mercieca, a skilled amateur nature photographer whose close-up triptych showing how bats drink while flying will take your breath away.

My, what pointy teeth they have.

Another wall features purpose-driven photos taken by researchers from the Natural History Museum and other organizations for studies on how climate change affects the San Bernardino flying squirrel and how wildlife use a highway underpass in Irvine. There are also many camera-trap photos of the Shaw’s agaveplants at the Cabrillo National Monument, which were taken during a study of the pollination mystery surrounding the rare succulent.

And finally, there are the fleeting images of our wildlife neighbors captured by their human counterparts.

This action photo of an American kestrel was caught with a camera trap by James and Marilyn McFadden. The photo was taken in the mountains of East San Diego.

(James and Marilyn McFadden / The San Diego Natural History Museum)

A flat-screen monitor within the exhibit displays a rotating gallery of camera-trap photos submitted by people from around San Diego County. The current stars of this homegrown collection include a ringtail (a member of the racoon family) photographed in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park by Richard Chadwick; an American kestrel caught in midflight in East San Diego by James and Marilyn McFadden; and a greater roadrunner chilling outside the Escondido home of Union-Tribune outdoors columnist Ernie Cowan.

Whether it is Dunn’s glowing photo of a pair of young mountain lions lapping up some water in Antelope Valley, or researchers’ cameras catching a coyote casually strolling past a graffiti-covered underpass wall, all of the photos on exhibit serve the same Natural History Museum goal of advancing conservation and celebrating San Diego’s incredible biodiversity.

“You can’t protect something unless people know about it. That’s why, instead of 20 photos of coyotes, we wanted to have coyotes and bobcats and ringtails and flying squirrels and as many different things as we could fit into this show,” Karkenny said.

“With the bat photos, people were just amazed to see that sense of motion, and to see the bat taking a sip of water. That is something you would never get to see with your own eyeballs. And sometimes, it’s the eye contact, especially with the mountain lions and the bobcat. Getting the chance to kind of look into their eyes and feel that connection, people just love that.”

The “Caught on Camera” exhibit will be on display for at least 18 months, but that doesn’t mean it will never change. In the interest of science, conservation and human fascination, the museum will continue to display “wildlife selfies” from members of the public.

If you have captured an stellar animal moment on your own camera trap or security device, by all means submit it using the form on the museum’s “Caught on Camera” exhibit page. Your photo could end up in the exhibit’s rotating flat-screen gallery, which the museum plans to update every quarter.

You could be another link in the chain of sharing and caring that could make the world a better, wilder place.

“When you see a skunk or a possum or a lizard in your yard, you build empathy with it. It becomes your neighbor. You respect it and you want to protect it,” Karkenny said.

“I hope that’s what people take out of the community section. I hope that they see these animals truly as the creatures we are sharing space with, and that they know we have a connection with them.”

“Caught on Camera: Wildlife When No One’s Watching” opens Friday, Nov. 18, at the San Diego Natural History Museum, 1788 El Prado in Balboa Park. Go to sdnhm.org for information.

Photographer Michael Cherney Photo: Courtesy of Michael Cherney

Having traveled throughout China to the point he has lost count of just how many places he has visited, Michael Cherney enjoys nothing more than capturing snapshots of the country’s natural landscapes on black and white film.

Cherney, a 53-year-old US photographer who has seen scenes such as the flowing Yangtze River through the lens of his 35mm film camera, said that he plans to spend his entire life working on his monochrome art that he compares to the distinct style of traditional Chinese ink paintings.   

Tradition is the future 

Photo: Courtesy of Michael Cherney

His art is often exhibited as part of lessons for art students in the US and Chinese universities, which in a way brings Cherney full circle as he was first drawn to Chinese culture when he himself was a college student. He was also strongly influenced by his father, who started doing business in the “golden era” of 1960s China. 

Cherney said at that time, he enjoyed learning the Chinese language the most, while the least enjoyable was involving himself in running his father’s business. 

Fu Chi, excerpt from Ten Thousand Li of the Yangtze River by Michael Cherney Photo: Courtesy of Michael Cherney

“I soon found out that I was not very into business,” Cherney said. 

“It [photography] is just a way to prove to myself that I was really understanding what I was looking at in China.” 

In 1991, the Chinese culture-lover settled down as a professional photographer in Beijing. 

After several years of taking “standard” landscape photos, the photographer has gradually progressed into an artist with an original style that incorporates the time-honored beauty of Chinese landscape handscrolls.  

His photo series Shadow Curtains was inspired by China’s “sea curtain” artistic ingenuity, a mounting technique that originated more than 700 years ago. The work follows the ancient method of displaying paintings in sequence along a long handscroll, and shows pictures he took in China’s cultural hotspots such as the Longmen Grottoes in Henan Province and the Yungang Grottoes. 

 Photo: Courtesy of Michael Cherney

Many of his works have been printed on Xuan-style paper, an ancient Chinese stationery that is one of the Four Treasures of the Study. 

“It is a very challenging material to work with… but it just makes it feel a bit more refined, a little bit more of a timeless feel,” Cherney said. 

“Timeless” is a profound artistic ambience that Cherney pursues in his art. For him, it is not just a style, but a means to show China’s evolution over time using photography to document reality. 

Started in 2010, Ten Thousand Li of the Yangtze River took Cherney seven years to complete. 

The artist has carried out research on 240 landmarks along the Yangtze River Basin documented in an anonymous Song Dynasty (960-1279) handscroll collected in a Washington DC gallery.  

Comprised of 42 handscrolls, Cherney’s project is like a contemporary counterpart to the ancient work that shows how people’s lives along the nation’s “Mother River” have changed as centuries-old towns and temples are now surrounded with bridges, mines and factories. 

“I think people tend to associate the word chuantong [tradition] with the past, but actually it’s past, present and future,” Cherney noted. 

Because he does not alter the photos shot in his 35mm film camera, Cherney takes a gamble every time he takes a picture on one of his field trips as he can only see them after he gets back home and develops the film. 

Yet, he has never regretted his choice, as he believes “nature’s paintings” “contain a resonance that can carry through generations.”  

Faith in culture

Traveling in Hubei Province in early January 2020 for his project Canglang Waters, Cherney did not realize that this journey would become life threatening since at that time COVID-19 had already started to ravage the province’s capital city of Wuhan. 

The Canglang Waters photo project was originally only supposed to be an artistic homage to China’s ancient text Tracing the Water Classic. Yet, as the realization of how the health crisis was impacting on people’s lives hit the photographer, it later turned into an introspective memo on how to cope with the hardships brought by the pandemic. 

In between photos on the handscroll are short calligraphy works inspired by the poem called “The Fisherman,” which was written by a frustrated poet of Chinese romanticism, Qu Yuan, during his exile. 

“Our journey to Canglang Waters [the classical name for a section of water along the Hanjiang River in Hubei Province] felt to be a metaphor for what was to follow:  remaining still… and then moving again, in harmony with our surroundings,” Cherney wrote. 

At that time when many foreigners tried to leave China, Cherney remained calm at home producing more calligraphy works. 

“Sooner or later, everyone will come visit Beijing, either from China or other parts of the world,” Cherney said, expressing his unwaivering faith in Chinese culture. 

The year 2022 marks the 31st year that Cherney has lived in Beijing. Now a true Beijinger, Qiu Mai – Cherney’s Chinese name meaning “autumn wheat” – has stood witness to the country’s development over the past few decades. He noted that all the developments happened “almost too fast for new memories to be created.” 

Currently, Cherney’s Elements and Boundaries exhibition is underway in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. With Chinese artist Liu Lihong joining the show, visitors can grasp how China’s landscapes are interpreted by artists from Asia and the West. 

Cherney said that he isn’t surprised to see Chinese aesthetics appeal to people from different backgrounds as his arts have been an open door inviting more people to see the real China.