Light and shadow

“I was going for a vacation with friends in 1998 and I borrowed my brother’s point-and-shoot camera. Since we did not have a digital camera at the time,that was the best tool at my disposal. When I returned home,my friends and family praised my photos and I realised how much fun taking pictures was,” recalls Arora.

Almost 12 years later,Arora held her first photo exhibition,‘Finding Light’,which recently concluded at the Lalit Kala Akademi. The 50-odd images on display comprised predominantly black and white images with a sprinkling of coloured frames,which were a unique interplay between light and shade. “This exhibition acted like a discovery of the unexpected for me as all these photos were taken on a subconscious level to explore how light,shade and contrast,works with the surrounding environment. It was only after I had a significant collection of such photos over the years did I choose this theme for my first exhibition,” says Arora,who is planning to display her collection at Mumbai’s Piramal Art Gallery in February.

Be it the light streaming in through the window panes of VT Station; the shadow of the dome of the gymnasium at Princeton University; the silhoutted railing of her alma mater in IIM Ahmedabad; the stairway at Hoa Lao prison in Vietnam,Arora’s images convey different moods.

Arora,who belongs to Delhi,got sucked into the demands of a corporate job soon after graduating from IIM Ahmedabad in the late 80s. So,photography took a backseat. But she would take out her camera on official trips. “Most of my images at the exhibition were taken on my trips. I would extend my stay at certain locations if necessary to explore the place with my camera,” she says. But it was only in 2003 that her passion grew significantly and she pursued a week’s training programme in photography from an Institute in Ooty.

“Over there I was able to clear my mind and learnt the importance of using light and shades to one’s advantage,” says Arora,who quit her well paying job with a reputed MNC and opened her own consultancy in 2008. “Now I have more time on my hands for photography.”

Apart from her continuing series on ‘lights and shades’,Arora likes capturing landscapes,monuments,people and still life images. “I have not restricted my scope as an amateur photographer. I capture whatever catches my fancy,” she says,as she makes a plan to hit the streets of Delhi on Sunday morning to explore the moods of the city.