Capturing candid moments from streets of Europe

While cycling around the streets of famous European cities like Munich, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, the world slowed down and froze in the lens of Karthik’s camera and the pictures came alive with emotions of love, happiness, togetherness and loneliness. “The cycles unconsciously became a binding factor between all my subjects and locations. The theme of travel and a journey emerged as I found myself photographing children, young adults, parents and people in their twilight years. Each element came together in a funny way through the presence of bicycles. It wasn’t planned but it seemed destined to happen,” explains Karthik. 

Black and white is a tone that Karthik chose for the series because he believes that the intensity and texture of the tones it brings along with high contrast is unparalleled. “Street photography required a different approach. It wasn’t as simple as pointing and shooting because I needed candid moments. So I devised a new way to shoot pictures. I held my camera at my chest level and aimed it with discretion. But even in this scenario I felt incredibly close to the people I shot. The moments were genuine and I had to treat that and the people I was capturing with respect. I fell in love with the people I photographed. They became my friends, their stories were mine and yet I didn’t know them at all,” he adds. 

The show, which will be held from February 13 to 17 at Art Houz art gallery, has a selection of 60 photographs that have been woven into a story. While they each individually speak for themselves, they have been brought together by a single thread. “I may have had many years behind the camera but this was an experience that was born from personal motivation. I was breaking out of my own comfort zone. I was used to shooting in a pre-design set up but this was all natural and real. In this journey I also found myself as much as I discovered the world around me,” he concludes.