As a teenager, Swapan Mukherjee loved to paint with colours, but as it happened, on a lazy Kolkata afternoon, a hand-me-down photography book transformed his priorities — he decided to paint with light. Today, the veteran photographer has a rich career spanning 50 years behind him. He has worked across genres, from fashion photography to photojournalism to fine art photography.
An ode to a young plant
Recalling that afternoon from his teenage years, Swapan says, “I came across a Kodak photography book which belonged to my father, who was a photographer, usually shooting family members and friends. The book made me realise the potential of photography — it’s instantaneous nature and the ability to record everything in detail impressed me very much.” At 14, he became the proud owner of an Ensign Ful Vue box camera.
Lovers at Trafalgar Square
“It was my birthday gift,” he says. In 1959, Swapan left for the UK to study architecture but after reaching there he made up his mind to study photography instead. The decision didn’t go down well with his family. Furthermore, even the Indian Embassy officials who had processed his student visa at the time were not pleased with his move.
Stairs at the Galleria, Hiranandani Gardens
He didn’t get a visa to return home, so he had to stay in London longer that he had planned. “I joined The Camera Club,” he says. The Club, founded in 1885, was one of the oldest photography clubs in the world. After finishing his photography course, he started working in the UK as a beauty photographer and set up his own studio. He went on to become a three-time winner of the Best Beauty Photographer Of The Year. Eventually he sold off his studio and returned to India in 1985.
L’Oreal U.K. beauty contest winner
“I was startled to see that things had changed so much, people were taking photography seriously here,” he says. When asked what keeps him inspired, he says, “Rarely do I consciously think of it. It is a kind of feeling you get when you come across a situation. It could be a moment full of joyfulness, pathos, or simply a play of shapes, lines, textures, colours and highlight and of course, shadows.
Locked memories
Victoria Harbour from the Cultural Centre, Kowloon
Basically, it is the significance of the moment that dictates my impulse to pick up the camera. However, when something is being built from scratch, the nature of the object being photographed would dictate the process. Even people need to be studied, sometimes only for a brief second, to get the kind of image one is looking for.”
Swapan’s work can be viewed at www.swapanmukherjee.com
