Bengaluru based photographer, Clare Arni’s work encompasses architecture, travel, social documentary and cultural heritage.
Her recent exhibitions concentrated on the lives of marginalised communities in rural and urban India. Several exhibitions on the disappearing professions across India gained her critical acclaim from all over. Excerpts:
Having travelled to various locations such as Peru, Afghanistan, Myanmar etc., what is your perspective on India and the festivals that are celebrated here? You are well known for your photos of Asia. What attracted you to this region in particular?
I have lived in India for 35 years. Since I spent a major portion of my life in India, Iconsider this country to be my home. I find India to be an easier place to shoot street and festival photography, more so because the people are more amenable to being photographed. Children, in particular love being photographed and crowd into my frame. On the flip side, in many other countries people do not wish to be photographed at all even in open spaces like markets.
Karaga running across burning embers |
 St.Mary procession through Shivajinagar, Bengaluru |
Is photography a documentary or an artistic form of expression for you? Comment
The idea that a photographic image has to be either artistic or documentary, and cannot be both is an outdated debate. I absolutely feel that a photograph can be both, and that is the challenge I face when I shoot festivals. I believe it is possible to achieve this completely.
 Offerings at Someshwara Temple |
 A Murugan devotee at the Kavadi festival |
What is the biggest challenge in photographing Indian festivals, as the country has been photographed a million times during these special occasions. How do you keep your coverage fresh and distinctive from the rest?
I do some pre-planning before I shoot a festival, I visit the site to check out the vantage points I can use. It is not just the main event of the festival; I spend time there and walk around shooting behind
the scenes and the preparations that go into carrying out the event. More recently, I have ventured into photographing the lesser-known festivals, which happens on a neighbourhood level, like Murugan Kavadi and Draupadi Amman fire walking. These festivals are more manageable and intimate.
 Crowds pull the temple chariot at Madurai |
 Preparing for the Draupadi Amman festival |
Shooting the different kinds of festivals in India seems to be an extreme-ly difficult proposition. Given the low lighting conditions, swarms of people; also the techni-cal details like different colour casts which re-quires adjustments, how do you manage to hold your focus?
Shooting on film teaches you a lot about handling the problems owing to low light, shooting at night and the differing colour casts. All these issues have now been solved by the advances made by digital technology. In fact it is freeing as I can experiment much more with movement, slow shutter speeds and lower depths of field at festivals to bring forward a different feel. Part of photographing a festival means you capture the atmosphere, the movement, and the surprising stillness that is present in the eye of the storm.
 Before the fire walking ceremony |
 Bhoot Kola near Udipi |
As a photographer shooting festivals, you generally have two choices: Either you use a long lens to capture ex-pressions and reactions from far away and not take any undue risk, or you shoot up close and wide, while protecting your equipment with a rain sleeve. What is your take on shooting the events on the ground?
I spend a lot of time at festivals so there is the op-portunity to shoot from afar, but then I approach a few of the participants and chat with them so I can do more in depth portraiture. I enjoy being at the heart of the action and am not perturbed by crowds once I start shoot-ing. I concentrate on creating images rather than on the discomfort of the situation.
 Street food being sold during the Meenakshi fest, Madurai |
 Kambala, Karnataka |
Having said that, recently at the Draupadi Amman fire walking festival, I got a vantage point near the fire. The crowds started pushing to get a better view, leaving me precariously close to the burning embers. I had to fight my way out of the crowd with the help of a woman journalist. The best part was that I managed to get the shot I was looking for.
Mathew Thottungal