In Focus

At first glance,they look like well composed paintings with a certain element of esoterica.

Written by Siddhartha Shukla
October 20, 2009 11:24 PM IST

3 min read

At first glance,they look like well composed paintings with a certain element of esoterica. However,a closer scrutiny,and a look at the other pictures reveals that they are actually exquisite photographic shots of leaves. Amrit Prakash Singh of Punjab Agricultural University,Ludhiana has used his camera lens to achieve what painters create with oil colours on the canvas.

A photo exhibition titled Leafscapes is currently underway at the Alliance Française. The exhibition showcases thirty out of the fifty five finest photographs of the leaves of the tropical plant called Canna captured on film where each leaf shows a different colour and form. The Canna is a ubiquitous outdoor plant found across the country. Amrit Prakash found the plant growing in a bed of three by ten at the Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana,which ended up as his site of working laboratory. Initially it was just accidental that I captured the images of the leaves of the plant,but gradually I began to see beyond just the leaves. I was astonished to see the wide range of colours being radiated in light even by a single leaf, explains Amrit Prakash about his decision to select the Canna plant as his subject. He has been able to extract shades of red,yellow and blue from a predominantly green coloured leaf.

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It took Amrit Prakash more than a year and a half to capture the different shades evoked by the leaves of the plant and resulting in a colourful phantasmagoria. All the photographs have been captured on a film-camera with immaculate timing and precision in natural lighting conditions. Amrit Prakash says that for most of the photographs he preferred the backlit photography technique. A picture of the tip of the leaf captured against a darker background interestingly resembles a pregnant woman. Amrit Prakash while pointing to the picture smiles,By this technique I could also see the different shapes,forms and colours through the leaf of this plant.

The delicate but important use of camera angles with respect to the availability of light has been deft,though Amrit Prakash jokes that it is just a manipulation of the amount of available light. He is currently working on capturing through his camera the different perspectives offered by the wheat plant. He remarks in all earnestness,Wheat may be food for the common people but for me it is the appetite for my creative soul.

The exhibition is on at Alliance Francaise,Sector 36,till October 22.