India Photography: Sadhus, Beggars, Gypsies
Landscape and portrait photographer Brian Moore started his career in the late 70s and early 80s in India and was the "official" photographer for houseboat owners on Dal Lake in Kashmir at the time.
This year he took inspiration and travelled back to India to take a series of inspiring, real life reportage-style photographs, covering the length and breadth of the sub-continent, some of which he has published in his first book titled "Sadhus, Beggars, Gypsies and Others".
At times a photographer's life is a nomadic one. With a hint of colour and vibrance, mixed with the assiduities of grace and humanity, a photographer stakes out their own internal, artistic territory: from the resonating prime colours of Rajasthan to less majestic images of indifference and survival, Brian Moore uncovers a life besieged by desire and acceptance.
In his first book, he tells endless tales of the sub-continent's culture, its people and environment, allowing his story to billow and bluster in the power and momentum of trips into the Great Indian Desert, the Bombay slums, its soothing shorelines, its rural life and of the hardships of Himalayan mountain village life.
Before leaving his native Australia, Brian acquired a Nikon camera with a range of lenses and, with his playful armoury of anonymity during intimate moments, this approach gave him the edge in overcoming starched and unnatural poses of the people he chose to photograph.
His shots include the people Rajasthan, Varanasi during the recent the nightly aarti (fire) ceremony, Nepal's mountain people (with breathtaking views) and, to a lesser extent, other destinations he chose to shoot in.
His majestic colour and black-and-white portraits are given depth by a devotion to clarity and precision; and they both set out his stall for how he views the country to be at its very heart. Brian shot exclusively on a Nikon digital and, in so doing, has made archival fine art portraiture of its people come alive.
The flexibility of shooting digitally enabled Brian to experiment. With his impressive photographic style and technique, Brian Moore's talent and experience of exploring the colourful characters of India and Nepal, with his almost anonymous approach to its people, captures images that are the embodiment of India’s life, emotion and environment.
