City photographer captures ‘heavenly bodies’

“We were curious about the kind of lifestyle these people led that gave them such good physiques without putting in any extra effort for it. This was how the idea for my photo-series, Heavenly Bodies, came to me,” explains Satyajit. 

Heavenly Bodies, which is being showcased at Dakshina Chitra till June 30, explores the healthy, welltoned bodies of labourers, like fishermen and coconut-tree climbers. “We live in a time when everyone is looking for white-collar jobs in the cities and there are no more takers for many of these professions any more. 

The people who do take it up seek the aid of machines. So the lifestyle at least, if not the profession, is going extinct. For example, I saw some fat fishermen at the beach and the older fishermen pointed out that they only take motor boats for fishing and don’t go to sea if the motor doesn’t work. So their bodies are not toned the same way as that of traditional fishermen. 

This means we will no longer have people with naturally agile and healthy bodies in our future generations. So, it is a documentation of a dying breed and their lifestyle. The photographs I have exhibited only feature the people. I also have photographs of their homes, families and the food they eat. 

I will release these photographs as a book soon,” says Satyajit. Born to legendary dancer couple Shanta and VP Dhananjayan, Satyajit grew up to be a well-known dancer himself. He also excelled in vocals, violin and tabla. But, he was soon bitten by the photography bug. His father, who himself was fond of the medium, supported Satyajit’s interest in another art. 

“I started photography while I was still in school. But I was still learning and performing dance at the time. But, later, a point came where I had to choose between the two mediums. I was becoming so well-known as a dancer that after the performances and practice, I had little time left for photography. I chose to follow my passion in photography. My parents were a little disappointed, but were happy I had chosen to follow an art,” he adds. 

After his schooling, Satyajit studied Visual Communication and later acquired his skills under the famous Iqbal Mohammed in Mumbai. After a couple of years of training under the maestro, Satyajit started his photography career in 1999. Satyajit is an automobile photographer by profession now and says he has never had second thoughts about his decision to follow his passion. However, he admits he is tired of the kind of photography he does professionally. 

“When I started, automobile photography was one of the most respected avenues in the field. But, now, the art has been corrupted by photo-editing and digital manipulation. This is true of all photography. Anybody is a photographer today. 

There is no respect for lighting or framing. The original photographs, be it taken by professionals or on our phone for Instagram, are manipulated so much, with an endless number of filters added, that a few years down the line, I wonder if the photographer himself will understand or remember where the image was taken,” he laments. 

Satyajit says this is precisely why he wants to quit advertising photography. “I direct and manipulate the original image I capture by telling the models what to wear, how to pose and what to do. The images are then altered to fit the corporate demands. It is tiring. 

I believe its time for me to shift my focus to more artistic work, like the series I have exhibited, and do some soul-searching. For example, none of the images I have exhibited was directed. They are real people, wearing whatever it was they were wearing when I met them, doing what comes to them naturally. 

I have tried to show what was there through the eyes of the camera, rather than tweaking it to present my perspective. I have also not done any digital manipulation of the images, except for a minimal colour correction to get it ready for print. 

All the colours, the light and the detail you see are original,” asserts the photographer. He points out that even though we think people don’t understand the value of such unadulterated images, they do notice it. 

“For example, one of the sweepers at Dakshina Chitra pointed to one of my pictures and told me, ‘I can sense the heat from the sunlight falling on the man just from looking at the photo’. A ray of sunlight was falling on the man’s lungi and, because I had used the best equipment for the series, the camera had captured in detail the prints and designs on the cloth under the light. 

The lady, who had little knowledge of photography, had sensed this and, though she didn’t know how to explain it, she was expressing it as an emotion. I was really happy after she said that because that’s what it’s all about — techniques being used to enhance the quality of the content and the content coming to the fore while the technique remains hidden,” he says with pride.