Nandit Desai captured the morning rays falling on Delhi monuments. The artist spoke to Pallavi Gupta about his inspiration and his mentor Amit Pasricha
A dawn-still of the Humayun’s Tomb leaves you pondering over the scenic beauty of this grandeur monument. The kind of lighting absorbed in the photograph is overwhelming. Nandit Desai, a student of filmmaking at NID has put up a set of ten images that gives you a panoramic view of city’s architectural heritage. The show is on view till May 30 at the India Habitat Centre.
The young artist said, “I had my first brush with photography in 2008 when I got to click a few pictures with my uncle’s camera. The feel of the camera was incredible and unreal. In the next two years, I travelled across my country with my camera, clicking a few snapshots here and there. Then came the major transition when my parents gifted me a DSlR. Since then, I haven’t looked back.”
Nine out of his ten photographs offers wide-angle view of the monuments. He said, “My influence for panoramic style of photography has been Amit Pasricha, who is my mentor for three years now. His book The Monumental India influenced the way I attempted to capture my own frames.” He further adds, “For me photography is a free thought of my mind. Photographs capturing our history look ordinary sometimes; I wanted to capture the incredibility of these historic structures. I believe in retaining the character of the details.”
He uses his experiences to capture architectural landscapes in panoramic forms and loves to click scintillating photographs of performing classical artistes. The duo of impeccable lighting and sublime shadows are the take away of his work. “The clicks I made were all at the time of the first blush of the day during morning hours between 7-10,” he said.
The unusual angle sought to capture the lights of the sun is amazing. The Obscura Wizardtalks about his clicks and said, “I have been told by one of my viewers that my photographers look like paintings. My photographs look a lot like that of a brush work. I feel happy that this uniqueness is observed for my work.”
Desia has done several projects as a student and hopes to carry on with his passion of clicking. He said, “Photography has been my hobby for the past five years and in the last two years, I pursued it as a profession. These photographs exhibited are a part of my architectural collection and I have aimed at capturing the incredible details and the graceful elegance of our heritage. Today my goal is to capture every scenic moment in such a way that compels the viewer to stop and take notice.”