UPAYAN CHATTERJEE | Into The Light
Copyrights to Upayan Chatterjee © All rights reserved.
“Into the Light revolves around the day to day activities, while trying to find the greater manifestation, hidden amidst those. It is all about how the lights fall, about the shadows they cast and about bringing forth their stories, within, which often go unheard, while also trying to look through the looming clouds into the Sun, hiding behind them.”
FREE WINGS
Long hours of being with family and at home were, perhaps, before this, the longing of many, and yet, few could comprehend that it would come like this. For all those who have grown enough to comprehend, the days in quarantine look far different from a vacation because, as they say, the gift of age, comes with the weight of experience. Happy are those who have little to take care of. The rooftops reverberate in the afternoons with the little ones running about, not ready to forsake a second’s worth of play, as the elders sit behind the dark doors and envy the joy of ignorance. The little kids are perhaps the only ones laughing freely, and freedom of their souls inculcates momentary cheerfulness in the gravest of minds. The secret door to a peaceful world of flowers and joy opens, even if for a moment, taking us far from the war we are currently standing amidst.
Upayan Chatterjee
Copyrights to Upayan Chatterjee © All rights reserved.
I am a 3rd Year Under Graduate Student from Kolkata, India, and enrolled in a full-time Bachelors’s Course in Electronics and Tele-Communication Engineering.
My passion lies in the art of narrating stories through photography; it has always been the food for my soul. I have loved and hated my attempts at weaving stories in photographs, yet the process has always felt captivating.
I choose the medium of Fine Art Photography to narrate my stories. To me, it is always more important to convey how I feel, at a place or with a person, through my photographs rather than what I see.
Low-key images are my favorite mode of expression as I feel that it gives me a convenient tool to play with the lights and shadows and paint the frame according to my wish, with the full freedom of emphasizing and deemphasizing as and how the artwork demands.
“INTO THE LIGHT” seeks to look beyond all that is apparent over this period of global turmoil, and yet, all of it has been shot at home.
This is one body of work that taught me that inspiration could be found any and everywhere. The World looks different over the anxious days of lock-down, as the COVID-19 pandemic rages like wildfire around the globe. Being confined within the perimeters of home, with ample time to explore, opening up possibilities, and new ways to look at the very place I’ve been staying at for over 20 years now. Compiling this project was challenging, be it mastering the techniques or composing the shots that complemented the narrative. It was also an incredibly intricate learning process- the urge to find new perspectives and analogies and continuous striving to recognize the striking patterns and unique moments, hiding amidst the mundane chores.
While stalwarts in the field like John Stanmeyer and Steve McCurry are forever the inspiration to create art out of human interactions, many other contemporary artists have more directly influenced this body of work.
I must mention Ranita Roy, an established young photographer from my hometown, whose works have greatly influenced my style, and a good friend of mine, Soumadri Chowdhury, who was the first to come up with the idea of pushing ourselves to be creatively active through these tough times.
Into The Light
The year started with the news of a contagious disease, rapidly making its presence felt in certain places in the world. We were worried; we were curious, and yet, we viewed COVID-19 and the novel Coronavirus to be somewhat beyond our little bubbles of reality. We failed to truly fathom its reach until it was right at our doorsteps. The World came to a screeching halt, the so very regular activities gradually started to feel distant, and we perhaps finally had the time to look back and realize the distance that has crept within throughout maybe an over-embellished lifestyle.
The global lock-down is presently being associated with apparent calm, and yet we all understand how chaotic the situation is. The World standing at a standstill jeopardizes a lot of lives, and perhaps a greater crisis awaits, even after the pandemic subsides. Truth is spoken; the contemporary times have no shortage of permanent epidemics like poverty, hunger, and so much more, which are only getting stronger as a more imminent danger makes us undermine the others. We have grown up with all the problems that plague the society and perhaps needed novelty to wake us up. Businesses suffer, world economy takes a plunge, health systems function at the extreme end of their capacities, and we slowly begin to realize that the water, electricity and so many other essential services we have been taking for granted, stand on the back of dedicated efforts of concerned individuals. With countries like Italy and Spain having to consider extreme steps to fight the pandemic and local news around the world, flashing the COVID-19 statistics throughout the day, the anxiety begins to grow.
The lockdown has kept us in our homes, and the lucky ones get to be in there together with the family, which has once again given us our fragile little bubble of security. At the same time, the global situation continues to question its apparent impregnability. Being with family, however, has a therapeutic calming ability, rising out of an intuitive feeling of safety. The daily activities go on, seemingly calm, and yet, something feels different. The televisions tune in to the news channels, and the light humor over the fun-filled family lunch, sometimes give way to anxious attention to the grave statistics of the raging pandemic.
