‘Raghu Rai: Waiting for the Divine’: Shaping our visual imprint
Eschewing the usual biographical guardrails of timelines, author Rachna Singh narrates the conversations she had with the photographer and her observations and ruminations in 10 chapters
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Book Title: Raghu Rai: Waiting for the Divine
Author: Rachna Singh
Raghu Rai, the ace photographer, is a visual chronicler par excellence. We have repeatedly seen him capture history with his pictures, many of which became historical. Something about his mind guides the camera and uniquely connects with the subject. What we see is the essence.
The connection is for all to see. Rachna Singh calls it divine, even as she endeavours to understand it and documents his journey through this book. The protagonist has over 60 books to his credit, and a number of biographies have been written about him, yet this stands out both because of its approach and what it accomplishes.
Eschewing the usual biographical guardrails of timelines, the author narrates the conversations she had with him and her observations and ruminations in 10 chapters. While sometimes a timeline may be handy, this approach allows her to explore the photographer’s life and work in-depth and gives a ringside view of conversations that peel layers off the enigmatic Raghu Rai.
The reader gets acquainted with the ace photographer’s childhood and how someone who trained and even served for a few years as an engineer at Ferozepur as well as Goa, became a photographer. The role of The Tribune’s first staff photographer, Yog Joy, is mentioned. During a Rohtak trip with Joy, the picture of a baby donkey and another of a woman surrounded by children clamouring for her attention were published in The Times, London, and opened new vistas for the man who wanted to move away from engineering.
What comes through often is the immense drive to “make every photograph better than the last”. S Paul, his brother, was the first teacher, and then came Kishor Parekh and others. Hindustan Times gave him a break. As Chief Photographer of The Statesman, he carved out a space with his distinct style, and he would stay with the paper for a decade before moving to India Today. He gave us memorable pictures that are still talked about.
It is a fact that our perception and narrative about events that have influenced our lives is shaped by the published images of Raghu Rai. The terrible misery of the 1971 refugees from Bangladesh, the innocence of the eyeless child victim of the 1984 Bhopal Union Carbide gas tragedy, the compassion of Mother Teresa, the child-like innocence and spirituality of the Dalai Lama — the mind carries within it the visual imprint for years and decades.
The connection between the subject and the photographer enables him to distil and capture the moment’s essence and freeze it. In seeking to understand what makes him click, Rachna Singh takes the reader on a journey, largely through his words.
Through this book, we explore his influences, friendships and his creative process, the influence of Guruji, his loves, his life, and the legacy that he has forged both through his work and by teaching and honing the skills of so many photographers, including his children Nitin and Avani; the latter has made a well-received documentary on him. With conservation architect Gurmeet Rai by his side, he continues to inform and inspire.
As he says in the Foreword: “Photography has been my entire life — it has, in fact, become my religion, a faith to which I have dedicated myself completely.” Raghu Rai’s photographs speak volumes, but the conversations in this book give us insights into his life and creative process.
— The writer is a senior journalist
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