Curated by: Georgina L Maddox

Rising From the Dark

The anticipation, the wait and the magic of watching an image swim into focus under the red light (safe light) of the darkroom on photographic paper, is perhaps an unparalleled joy for many an analogue photographer.The satisfaction of hanging up the print to dry after ‘dodging and burning’ the image onto the surface, the discovery that the image is unique in its own way...is a passion that has not yet left the artist- photographer.

Hasnain’sSoomar'sfascination and his experiments with analogue photography and darkroom techniques arehis act of ‘rising from the dark’. Where he stretches the metaphor that he is in pursuit of to an actual experience of light and dark…of capturing the image and exposing it on photographic paper from digital negatives; it is indeed not just a technical but a spiritual process and journey for the artist-photographer. To quote OgMandino, “I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.” It is that darkness that allows us to focus on the light.

With his new body of work Hasnain’s images have not moved away from his previous concerns that one was witness to in Meeting Point, (I, II and III), but he has found newer ways to express it. Whether the family walking from the darkness to the light of the Red Fort, or the reflected image of the man performing Wuzu that dances in the water-tank in the mosque in Kolkata, or it is the exploding fountain of water at the Delhi Lodhi gardens, Hasnain is looking to capture that ‘decisive moment’,which actually prolongs beyond the engagement of that split second when he presses down on the shutter to capture the image. It is a tussle with the forces of life that appear to stand on either side of the precipice but actually they converge in the center to complete the whole.

Darkroom photography was introduced in the 19th century and has been used by budding photographers globally, but in the last ten years its popularity has steadily decreased. Many photographers have been drawn out of the darkrooms by digital cameras and the benefits that come with it. However, does this signify the end of the darkroom and the traditional printing techniques of the past? It is a hotly debated question among practitioners, even today.

The main ‘casualties’ of the digital era are the darkroom equipment manufacturers and retailers, and one of Britain's most established dark-room equipment producers is Ilford Photo and Harman technology.

According to a piece writtenby Jonathan Newman, published in ePHOTOzine,“The future of Ilford was on a knife edge and in 2004.’ Judy Wong the company's marketing manager reported that they had gone into receivership; however out of the troubles came Harman Technology a niche market and they were able to continue to provide darkroom products for the public.”

In the Indian context there are more public venues like the Museo Camera, The Maze Collective and other private dealers and practitioners who offer darkrooms, equipment and guidance to interested Practitioners. However there is no denying that it is an uphill task to sustain the niche market of analogue photography.

What is it, we may ask, that leads photographers and technicians to follow these age-old methods, even when digital technology offers ‘shiny new’ solutions to analogue problems? Is it nostalgia for the past? A thirst for the challenge or simply the pure joy of knowing that one could master old technology and rise above the average person who can take good photos with the phone camera? Perhaps it's a bit of all of these factors.
While the 'serious artists' report frustration and heartbreak over losing their favourite paper, necessary chemicals and other equipment and facilities, others have found solutions. 

Hasnain’s first introduction to photography occurred at the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London where he worked on several projects that led him to discover both digital as well as analogue. His experience of photographing the Star Trek sets and exhibits at Hyde Park led him to discover his love for digital astride his engagement with analogue while he was studying. He made his introduction to the dark room and learned more about photography. While he moved on to working in Digital, for the fashion industry and Bollywood cinema, his fascination and love for analogue techniques has stayed on and he ventures into it once again, experimenting and discovering new aspects through the sheer desire to learn through trial and error.

Besides is technical engagement with the dark room, it is indicated through Hasnain’s philosophical and spiritual beliefs and subsequently in his photographic oeuvre that he is fascinated by the forces of life, the light and the darkness, the positive and the negative, the Yin and the Yang, the Sun and the Moon. While experiencing the many shades of grey, is something he has been taking pleasure in from his advent into photography, it is with his solo exhibition, 'The Meeting Point', held at, Cultivate Art Global, Mumbai, 2021,Dhoomimal Art Gallery in 2021, and subsequently held online at the QuarentenaGaleria, Chile 2022, that Hasnain came into his own.

“The lattice structure, a recurring motif in my work, symbolizes my attempt to filter the fear within and without, allowing light to travel through the core of our being. As Rumi puts it ..."The wound is (indeed) the place from where the light enters".

Whether it is the image of a man at the mosque performing the Wuzu (cleansing ritual before offering a prayer), or two boys jumping in the river, or the transfixing image of a boy crying furiously while hiding behind an intricate ornamental stone screen, the Jaali with light illuminating his face, Hasnain waits to capture these moments of abandon and joy where the human spirit gives itself over to surrender.For Hasnain the Meeting Point is where the opposites unite and merge in a way that the darkness gives way to light, fear to hope and movement to stillness.

While the image of the boy is an image filled with lament and it may be read as disturbing, yet the illuminating shaft of warm sunlight that falls upon the boy's retracted form presents the viewer with a sense of hope—that he will transition from the sadness.

The photograph of the man performing Wuzuis an image that addresses the present and the future, holding time in a delicate balance, creating a meeting point between what is and what is to be. The birds dancing around the water is a moment of ‘discovering unbridled joy’ in performing a routine task that holds the mundane and extraordinary all at one go! When he photographed the two boys jumping in the river,it became a reminder of the ultimate taste of freedom from all fears and limitations.

Hasnain believes that what seems to us as polarities are actually,“two sides of thesame coin, one often merging into the other and one urging the other to transcend beyond the known into the vast and undiscovered unknown.”

Included in Hasnain’s experimental process is the engagement with the Cyanotype. Technically speaking the Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that produces blue-toned prints, using coated paper and light. The process was discovered by the scientist and astronomer Sir John Herschel in 1842. Herschel used the cyanotype process so that he could reproduce mathematical tables along with other notes and diagrams.

Forthwith, after Herschel developed the cyanotype process, his friend, photographer Anna Atkins, started exploring the process for book illustration by making cyanotypes of plants. She used the method to produce the first book that included photographic images, titled Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Flowering Plants and Ferns. 

Even though the cyanotypes were produced in the 20th century, they were eventually outstripped by other printing techniques. Recently, modern artists have revived the process for its ease and aesthetic appeal.    

Working with the Cyanotype Hasnain brings to his work a gradation of shades and the particles of chemicals in the washes brings a certain texture to the surface of the print. By engaging in this Analogue process, Hasnain creates yet another layer to engage with the mood and the emotion of serenity and reflectiveness that is evoked by his photographs. The coating of the surface of the negative with the chemicals and its exposure to UV light is an added step in the process after which it rinsed and then stabilized.

One can also make a photogram by placing the object directly on the photographic paper, and the areas that are exposed to the UV light will turn blue and those which are blocked out to the UV rays by the object will remain white. Besides the technicality behind the process the Prussian-blue tinge brings a certain antiquated feeling to the imagery and there is a feel of the ethereal that is evoked by the shades of blue. Produced by a chemical reaction developed in the early 18th century, Prussian blue was a coveted pigment among painters in Europe and Japan (including the artist Hokusai—who painted The Great Wave of Kangawa). To show off their wealth, families in Japan would also have household rooms painted in the deep hue. 

Hasnain’s intention is not to evoke royalty or riches but rather to allow his viewers to enter into a state of engagement that borders on the meditative, with the imagery. It takes one into the zone of contemplativeness where even the playfulness of the Ferris wheel and the funhouse is brought into the shade of solitude.     

It is the this discovery of the unknown that he ventures into with his images that present us with shades of black-and-white but most importantly the moments of transition in the grey.