Book: Ways of Seeing Water!
Author: Rafique Sayed
Publisher: Finolex Industries
Pages: 175;
Price: Rs 3000
In Ways of Water, a coffee table book of black and white photographs, renowned fashion photographer Rafique Sayed deviates from what he normally does for a living and creates a path that is out of his studio box. ‘Be like water, just flow’ said the legendary martial art expert Bruce Lee! And here one gets to see more than the flow....
During the ’80s when colour ruled the media and cut across all swathes, Rafique Sayed took the lonely and defiant path by shooting all his fashion photography in black and white and shoved his images down publishers throat as it were. He converted wannabe models into celebrities, many of whom became Miss Indias and went on to become Miss Worlds, Miss Universes, Miss Earths, supermodels, etc., but they were first seen through the lens of Rafique. And, when Rafique wanted to explore the universe, the most important element he chose apart from air was water. The glory of water..as if he witnessed the creation of water by God. His pictures glorify water and pay obeisance to this element.
The earth, sky, clouds, wind, trees, beaches, all play props to his intrusion of water. The waterdrop, the stream, the rivulet, the river, the pond, the sea, and ocean are all captured with beauty and glory, detail and finesse, all in 120 pages, that is fit to be exhibited in a museum for posterity. The first shot incidentally is bereft of water. Just footprints in the sand with a zipperlike path cutting across a story. A story of water waiting to be unzipped.
The journey of water is graphically captured, sometimes, docile, sometime, turbulent, the ebb and flow, humans enjoying God’s gift with abandon. The texture of water left on the sand, the granules, the light and shade, movement, drama, spectacle makes the viewer exclaim to the
Creator, “How great thou art, how great thou art.”
In fact, this is Rafique’s tribute to the wonders of creation. “I do not create. I discover,” he says.
Wendell Rodrigues, who has known him for 30 years, says, “I have learnt through my voyage with Rafique how to underexpose water, use it as a reflection of the sky, how to prolong exposure when needed and how to force the camera to create shadows. This book will fascinate viewers.”
In all of Rafique’s images there are always two people. Him and the viewer.
Vin voyage! Let his images do the talking...
