Rare 100-year-old photo of photographer G Venket Ram’s great grandparents inspires his latest work

Photographer G Venket Ram
| Picture Credit score: Particular Association

In earlier conversations with The Hindu, superstar photographer G Venket Ram has enthralled readers with myriad tales about his relationship with Chennai and images.

He has recounted his childhood in George Town; spoken of sprinting down Napier bridge at daybreak; narrated a narrative of by chance stopping a prepare while carrying a crimson T-shirt; and had quipped about spending time clicking picture-perfect pictures of actor Suriya’s abs.

Over time, readers have watched this lensman experiment with kinds and style, displaying sides of the town peeking by way of his character. This time, a sticky {photograph} in a 100-year-old household album has inspired him to meditate on two everlasting abstractions whereas the town stays the background — nostalgia and distinction.

An image of G Venket Ram’s grandparents
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association

“Have you ever seen these previous albums which are considerably falling aside, with pictures sticking to one another? I chanced upon one such album with a marriage portrait of my nice grandfather and nice grandmother from the Nineteen Twenties and the picture struck me,” he says. 

In it, the couple — Dr Ramadheni Seshagiri Rao and Ranganayaki Bandala — dressed of their marriage ceremony finery might be seen exuding two vastly distinct feelings. The picture in black and white, exhibits the younger physician in a dapper go well with, tie and well-constructed footwear, a lot resembling the Englishmen who dominated over the nation then.

A side-by-side of the fashions shot by G Venket Ram evaluating the style of Nineteen Twenties and current day.
| Picture Credit score:
G Venket Ram

Nevertheless, parts of Indian jewelry and aesthetes are important to finishing his look. A bejewelled turban with a feather, ornate arm bands and a studded necklace, add to the arrogance as he sits cross-legged. “A lot I learn about him [great grandfather] is from my grandmother who says that he was stationed in Vellore for a number of years because the jail physician on the Vellore Central Jail. He misplaced his spouse at a younger age,” Venket Ram says.

His new doe-eyed spouse alternatively, is draped in a Chinese language silk sari with tulips run alongside the hem, and adorned from head to toe in intricate jewels together with chains, rings, nostril pins and a number of other ornaments on the ear. “It’s nearly as if she is shocked by the digicam. I wished to recreate this precise picture as a result of it refused to go away me. There’s a lot style within the {photograph},” he says.

Venket Ram therefore determined to mess around with the motifs within the image. He says that he particularly tried to search for younger fashions (aged 16 and 24) within the shoot, in order to seize this pure innocence that his nice grandmother as soon as displayed. However, the thought was additionally to subvert the gaze with a contrasting sense of the longer term. “There’s therefore a recreation from the Nineteen Twenties, and the identical saree and jewelry styled for right now,” he says. 

A side-by-side of the fashions shot by G Venket Ram evaluating the style of Nineteen Twenties and current day.
| Picture Credit score:
G Venket Ram

To make sure that the look could possibly be recreated, Venket Ram reached out to Amrapali to supply comparable jewelry. “It’s best to see the necklace and the vankis. Beautiful,” he says. He provides that the saris have been customised by Uncooked Mango. Whereas the background is constant, showcasing a timeless portray and an ornate column, the fashions within the photographs put on contrasting feelings. There’s each timid shyness and a searing confidence of their faces as the pictures sit side-by-side.

“There’s additionally a distinction in capturing method. The Nineteen Twenties picture was shot on a big format movie digicam (he owns a Horseman LX 4×5), the up to date picture was shot on a 35mm digital digicam. Even the carpets and furnishing have been rigorously picked out from Amethyst,” he says. 

Venket Ram says that marriage ceremony portraits have a diminished worth in right now’s world of know-how. “Whereas the act of images on a marriage day exists, the frames right now are often crowded with folks. If something, this picture has taught me that marriage ceremony portraits are treasured and should be handled with all seriousness. It’s, in any case, a uncommon event,” he says.

Photographer’s G Venket Ram’s work might be seen on his Instagram and Fb @venketramg. It will likely be displayed in Amethyst on November 15.