'Legend of black-and-white' Remembering O P Sharma the man behind World Photography Day

New Delhi, Nov 7 (PTI) O P Sharma, a pioneering analogue photographer and master printer who conceptualised World Photography Day, was remembered by the photographing community as a legend of black-and-white images whose knowledge of the subject was unsurpassed.

    Sharma died on Friday at his Delhi home, according to a post by his son Aseem Sharma. He was 89.

    His last rites were performed on Saturday at Lodhi Crematorium here.

    Born in Agra in 1937, Sharma was largely self-taught in the ways of the camera. He found his calling in photography when he was a student of physics at Lucknow University.

    He worked as a photography teacher at Delhi's Modern School from 1958 to 2000. He, along with his artist-photographer wife Chitrangada Sharma, established the photography department at Triveni Kala Sangam in 1980, where he nurtured successive generations of photographers.

    According to an Instagram post by Art Heritage Gallery, Sharma initiated efforts in 1989 to dedicate a day to photography.

    "He wrote to as many as 200 photographic societies, artists, and institutions around the world to garner support for his cause. In 1991, his endeavours culminated in the widespread recognition of World Photography Day," it said.

    The veteran photographer was congratulated by the then-president of the Photographic Society of America for having "stirred the waters of interest" with his concept of World Photography Day.

    World Photography Day has been observed annually since August 19, 1991.

    Sharma also set up the India International Photographic Council in 1983, as well as played instrumental roles in forming photographic societies and communities such as the Amateur Photographic Society of Agra (1959) and the Foto Arte Group (1960s).

    He also authored books, including "Practical Photography" and "Vision From the Inner Eye: The Photographic Art of A L Syed".

    Sharma's last exhibition, a retrospective, was held at Shridharani Gallery at Triveni Kala Sangam in September 2024, featuring 150 photographs that ranged from classic silver gelatin prints to complex montages created by combining techniques, "with vibrant avant-garde effects produced through experimental processes: collage, multiple exposures, photograms and solarisation".

    The exhibition, organised by the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts in collaboration with Art Heritage, not only chronicled Sharma's journey from being a self-taught photographer and printer but also mapped the photographic history of analogue printmaking and experimentation in India.

    Amar K Shridharani, honorary general secretary, Triveni Kala Sangam, remembered that Sharma would take evening classes at Triveni for budding photographers in the 1980s.

    "Undoubtedly, he was a legend in black-and-white photography, and his knowledge of the subject was unsurpassed. He taught photography at Triveni Kala Sangam for over 40 years, shaping the vision and discipline of countless students who came to him not just to learn photography, but to discover a way of seeing," Shridharani said.

    It was less known that Sharma opened Shridharani Gallery with its very first show in 1962, when the building was still being built, he added.

    Sharma was remembered by the photographing community as the "pioneering artist and teacher who helped shape photography" in independent India and as a "master of analogue".

    "Dr O P Sharma's passing marks the loss of a pioneering artist and teacher who helped shape photography in independent India. His legacy encompasses an extraordinary body of work, generations of students and an enduring commitment to photography's recognition as an art form," DAG said in a statement.

    It added that Sharma made the darkroom "a space of invention, bringing technical precision to experiments with photograms, solarisation, multiple exposures and montage".

    "In his hands, light, shadow and chemistry became expressive materials. His 'Rasa Bhava' series brought this exploration into an evocative engagement with emotion and expression, drawing upon Indian aesthetic thought," the gallery noted.

    The iconic series of pictures, featuring actor Sajjan Lal Purohit, depicted the essential elements rasa (aesthetics) and bhava (emotion) of Natyashastra in striking black-and-white portraits.

    Purohit had introduced Sharma to Bollywood, where the photographer documented the workings of one of the largest film industries from behind the scenes.

    Sharma worked with his wife as a stills cameraman in four films -- Do Boond Paani (1971), Siddhartha (1972), Chhupa Rustam (1973), and Shalimar (1978) -- with some of the biggest stars of the time, including Dev Anand, Hema Malini, Dharmendra, and Zeenat Aman.

    A master of portraits, Sharma captured through his lens stalwarts of music and poetry such as Begum Akhtar, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Sumitranandan Pant, and Agyeya (S H Vatsyayan), among others.

    Photographer and transdisciplinary artist Samar Jodha met Sharma in 1984 on a college trip from Hyderabad to Delhi, where the veteran had put together an exhibition.

    "In those days you had the portrait studios, you had industrial and advertising work, and you had pictorial photography, where a photograph was treated almost like a painting. O P himself came from the pictorial tradition.

    "We were still struggling with exposure and the darkroom, so his prints were a mystery to us, but he was a soft-spoken teacher with a lot of patience, especially for young students like me," Jodha told PTI.

    Photographer and founder of Museo Camera Aditya Arya said O P Sharma was "a master of analogue and a master printer. His deep knowledge and sharing of his thoughts will always remain embedded in my mind".

    A Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society of London, Sharma won several awards over the years, including the Stuyvesant Peabody Award (USA), the Pentax World Award (Japan) and the Merilon Award (Singapore).

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)