Tuesday 4 December 2012

Breathing Light by Prarthana Krishnamurthy



My friend (and senior at law school) Prarthana Krishnamurthy is an avid photographer based in Singapore. Prarthana’s solo photo exhibition - Breathing Light - starts at Atta Galatta, 1st Block, Koramangala, Bangalore on 8th December 2012 and will continue until the 16th of December 2012. I caught up with Prarthana recently and asked her a few questions for the benefit of Winnowed’s readers.

Winnowed: How long have you been interested in photography?

Prarthana: For a long time. However, after I moved to Singapore in 2007, I had to give up my legal career and for want of something to do, I took up photography seriously. Sometime in 2009, I went for a photography course and then I was fully hooked.

Winnowed: Your first camera?

Prarthana: When I was young, I had a point and shoot Panasonic Lumix. After I completed my photography course, I got myself a Nikon D300, which I still use.

Winnowed: What’s it about photography that fascinates you?

Prarthana: The interplay between lines and light. My pictures try to capture this congress. I see this as a pulsating breath like overture and have made an attempt to convey rare moments reflecting the ebb and rise of my journey through my Breathing Light collection.

Winnowed: Is photography just a hobby for you?

Prarthana: Actually, it’s a lot more than that. I would describe my journey as a discovery of the anonymity that being behind the lens affords me to help me capture some intensely personal moments and perspectives on life. I have grown to love the camera as a medium of art and of photography as a standalone art form. Chasing the light and capturing its moods and movement has grown into a consuming passion.

To sum up my journey and this Breathing Light collection, I would say that from seeing photography as a supporting medium for various forms of art including dance, painting and sculpture, I now look at photography as a standalone art form. Having discovered in the past few years the power of the camera as a medium of art and expression and the intense perspective required to capture and project the interplay of light and lines, I hope my Breathing Light collection contributes to increasing the appreciation of photography and brings it back to center stage.

Winnowed: The pictures to be displayed at Breathing Light, what period do they belong to?

Prarthana:
The pictures were taken in the last two years. As I said earlier, my fascination with photography is very recent.

Winnowed: I heard that Balan Nambiar is launching your collection of photographs?

Prarthana: Yes, Balan Nambiar, one of India's luminaries in the arts and an accomplished and multifaceted painter, sculptor, enamellist, photographer and research scholar, is launching my Breathing Light collection. I’ve known Balan for long and once I became interested in photography, he has guided me.

Winnowed: Do you have a message for other photographers out there?

Prarthana:
I believe that photography needs to be accorded the same status as other fine arts in our schools and educational establishments. I hope that my message reaches out to educators and institutes that focus on photography as a medium to help bring photography center stage. I also hope that I can reach out to other photographers to help increase the appreciation of photography as an art form.

Winnowed: Do you have any hobbies other than photography?

Prarthana: I like to travel. Ever since I moved to Singapore, I’ve travelled all over the world. Until then I could not travel as much as I would have liked to, since I was working full-time. Travel is a hobby that goes hand-in-hand with photography.

Winnowed: Can you please share one of your photographs on Winnowed?

Prarthana:
Sure, here’s one which I shot a couple of years ago in Seville in Spain on a very hot summer afternoon. I was resting on a bench, a moment of calm in the tormenting heat. Friends I was with were at an ice cream shop nearby. The lady in the picture was feeding the pigeons. This picture will form part of my Breathing Light exhibition.



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