1961 (AICTE Diploma)
harbansmody1@gmail.com
I am an artist – turned photographer. Grooming began after joining the School of Art, now known as College of Art. Immediately after passing out, joined JWT as a trainee, a visualizer & finally an Art Director. JWT, gave me the opportunity to work in Paris & London offices. In Paris, worked under Prof. Hugo Harrang, an authority in the field of photography.
Visited art galleries & museums, did experiments in a dark room, at the Ecole Estienne, Paris. It was routine to work with models, & guess what, an unassuming girl walks into my studio with her mother to get her first portfolio. Portfolio done without any inkling that the girl I was shooting would be crowned Miss India & later go on to capture the “Miss Universe” crown to become the 1st Indian to bag the coveted title in the year 1994. Enough hint for anybody to guess the identity of this girl! Photography is my passion. I would capture images with my ‘Magic Box’ camera, then wait with trepidation for films to be processed. Yes, in those days, it was films which captured images and not “megapixel sensor”! I can still recall the days, where there was always a palpable tension all around, till films were processed.
Photography for a cause: Getting away from routine commercial jobs, I thought of contributing something to society, by forging ‘unity’ among the people of all religions, through the medium of photography and the result: ‘DILLI KI SHAAN’ was born the entire exercise took me about 2 years (2005-06). Was able to capture 40 invaluable photographs of centenarians, men & women, drawn from all religions of society, resulting in an exhibition titled “Dilli Ki Shaan”, at Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi in Jan 2007. No photograph was for sale, as the exhibition was for a cause.