Out of the darkroom

Investment banker-turned-fine art photographer Siddhartha Tawadey, 32, turns nostalgic; he uses the darkroom and film technique of yore, abandoning the modern world of digital cameras and Photoshop.

Investment banker-turned-fine art photographer Siddhartha Tawadey, 32, turns nostalgic; he uses the darkroom and film technique of yore, abandoning the modern world of digital cameras and Photoshop.

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The set of 20-odd images give the effect of a ‘canvas’, where ordinariness turns abstract. “The idea was to create an image which had a 3-D effect. At times, I had to run with the camera to capture the movement of the wind. the colours that came out finally, could have inside the darkroom only,” says Tawadey.

Some of the images are figurative as well, such as the face of a young boy mahout with his elephant, their faces merging into each other, as do their lives. Also placed at exhibition is a slideshow — complete with the background audio of chirping birds and an early morning train – offering us a peek into Tawadey’s world of reality, beyond what we see.