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Camera chronicles of Chandigarh-based Sarabjit Pandher
Sarabjit Pandher, 51, who was a journalist for more than a quarter of the century, gave it all up to pursue his passion for photography. A self-taught photographer, he has organised his first solo photo exhibition at the Punjab Kala Bhawan at Sector 16, Chandigarh from August 28 to August 30.
Sarabjit Pandher, 51, who was a journalist for more than a quarter of the century, gave it all up to pursue his passion for photography. A self-taught photographer, he has organised his first solo photo exhibition at the Punjab Kala Bhawan at Sector 16, Chandigarh from August 28 to August 30.
“My profession was extremely demanding. As the Punjab correspondent for a daily newspaper, I wasn’t able to constantly be on the run,” says Sarabjit, who had a cardiac surgery in August 2014 after which he wanted to connect with himself. His health couldn’t abate his love for expressing through his soul.
“My body was gone. I realised I couldn’t take the pressure anymore and photography came to the rescue. It is meditation for me,” he says. Sarabjit doesn’t employ any editing in his photographs.
His father, 86-year-old, Gurdev Singh Pandher says, “While Sarabjit was studying journalism in PAU, photography was his hobby. He clicked some beautiful pictures of the Golden Temple and I knew he had talent for this art form.”
A picture of Thousand Islands on the border between Canada and USA (Karun Sharma/HT)
Sarabjit has travelled to Leh and Ladakh, the Grand Canyon in the US, Spain, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the NorthEast, among others. His photographs capture his journey to places that have an instant calming and soothing effect on the soul.
Sarabjit gave up his career of a journalist and is now stepping into the unknown, willing to try out more professions. For the moment, he wishes to concentrate on photography. “The exhibition has done surprisingly better than I expected. I have been congratulated and appreciated. Some IPS officers who visited asked me if I would sell my photographs,” he says.
In the process of making a website, he is all geared up for his next adventure in September which will take him to New England in the US.
A picture of a lake in Ladakh captured during sunset (Karun Sharma/HT)
What: Photography exhibition by ex-journalist Sarabjit Pandher
Where: Punjab Kala Bhawan, Sector 16, Chandigarh
On till: August 30
Timings: 11 am to 6 pm
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