Ludhiana, July 8
Photography is not merely a technical job. It is an art. As creative as painting, it creates images, sometimes out of nothing and sometimes from material things. And if photography is an art, Surkhab Shaukin Singh, an upcoming photographer from Chandigarh, promises to be an artist on way to perfection.
Surkhab is currently organising an exhibition of his photographs, mostly from Rajasthan, at the Satluj Club. The exhibition got off to a good start with no less a person than the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, himself coming here to inaugurate it.
The photographs at display are remarkably marvellous. It looks as if Surkhab has picked up the nature’s beauty in its purest form. Of course with his eye and the lens. Just 18 and he has already organised six solo photo exhibitions and all of them drawing a lot of response, besides the much desired critical acclaim from varied critics.
Surkhab had put up his first solo exhibition when he was only 15-year-old. And since then there has been no going back. He has travelled around the world. In fact he describes his ongoing exhibition as “a photographer’s travelogue”. And in fact it is as it takes the viewer into the magnanimous palaces of Rajasthan. One gets awed at the sublimity, magnanimity and of course all the beauty that he has tried and succeeded to capture. In fact, the photograph of Hawa Mahal of Rajasthan makes the viewer feel as if the majestic palace is swinging in the air. And there are a number of such photographs that inspire the viewer.
Surkhab attributes his success to his teachers, Navneet Saxena and R.K. Gaur, besides some of his relatives. He says he is also indebted to his journalist mother, Reeta Sharma, who, he says, despite not being a photographer herself, is his severe critic and keeps on pointing out his mistakes. But at the same time she is the source of his inspiration and has always been encouraging him to pursue his art.
