Framed in time

Two books commemorate photo-journalist Raghu Rai’s 50-year journey of capturing the many faces of India, the land and its people, through the lenses — a compilation of his most memorable images, and India’s first coffee table shot entirely on a smartphone

His illustrious career began with a beguiling little donkey who looked straight into his first camera, and from there he went on to become one of the foremost chroniclers of the changing face of India. As Raghu Rai commemorates 50 years as a photo-journalist, two new books — one that brings together 50 years of exceptional images and the stories behind them, and the other that made him play with a smartphone — have been recently released.

“For Picturing Time: The greatest photographs of Raghu Rai, we decided to pick up some of the best and finest pictures taken over the course of my career that spans over fifty years. Every picture is accompanied by my personal insights into how, when, why and where were these pictures shot,” says Rai.

The book showcases various genres and themes that the veteran photographer has worked with — ranging from his signature black and white portraits, his coloured frames, the Delhi series, portraits of eminent figures. He says, “You’ll find some of the most iconic moments in Indian history in this book. Beginning from the 1960s, there are pictures of landmark  moments like the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri, the split in the Indian National Congress, rise and fall of Indira Gandhi and very personal moments like the birth of my son, meeting Mother Teresa, etc. There are pictures capturing tragedies too like the Bhopal Gas tragedy, assassination of Indira Gandhi to pleasant interactions with Pandit Ravi Shankar, M.S. Subbulakshmi and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In 2000s, I’ve tried to capture the beauty and essence of various cities and towns of India.”

In the 50th year of his career, Rai ditched his “instrument of darshan” i.e. his professional camera for a smartphone and went from the hills of Kashmir to the coasts of Kanyakumari compiling shots for what is now India’s first coffee table book India through the eyes of Raghu Rai, shot entirely on a smartphone. For Rai, shooting with cellphone offered him a lot of freedom and ease. He shares, “Unlike a professional camera, shooting through smartphones is simpler and hassle-free because of the in-built features. Thanks to the advanced digital technology, you don’t have to bother about focus, exposure, and aperture or colour correction. It gives you all the freedom to capture the moments and faces, as and when you want and the way you want. It was a fascinating project, where I treated the phone like a toy and kept playing with it, taking pictures from different angles and in different modes throughout my journey across India. Extraordinary clarity and picture quality is what surprised me the most. ”

A picture that speaks to you, he feels, is produced when body, mind and spirit culminate in that one moment. “When we take a picture, we have to be aware of every inch of space we’re surrounded with. What could appear mundane and ordinary to some, still has a heart beating to some rhythm. While walking down the streets, anything that whispers ‘hello’ to my lenses is what I end up capturing. I can’t decide beforehand what has to be shot as it goes against my creativity,” he says.