The sight of the sun sinking below the horizon leaving behind a sky in shades of red and purple or a freshly-bloomed vine of bougainvillaea seen on the roadside—such pleasant sights are instinctively captured with our phone cameras. The ubiquitous smartphone with its high-quality cameras has made almost everyone a photographer.
This artistic practice of photography, however, has a long history. Prior to becoming a common discipline, it was a laborious art, with several developments and techniques that led us to where we are today. Techniques that comprise the “old-fashioned way” of taking photos are, interestingly, slowly making a comeback, for multiple reasons. Facilitating this shift on home ground is The Maze Collective, a Chhatarpur-based studio that functions as an artist-run space specialising in analogue and alternative processes of photography.
Founded by artist and photographer Ashish Sahoo (34) along with Iranian photographer Zahra Yazdani (36), this Collective that was formed two years ago, endeavours to spread information and awareness about alternative photographic processes. “The Maze Collective was set up to show young photographers the history of photography and how these analogue processes were used back in the time as well as how they [the photographers] can use the same in contemporary times to tell their stories,” shares Sahoo.
Experimenting with early-age methods
Sahoo (34) has been experimenting with analogue photography since childhood. “I have never shot using a digital camera. All my projects are based on some kind of analogue processes,” he says. Yazdani too is a patron of alternative photography whose work blurs the lines between painting and photography. With The Maze Collective, the duo focuses on a wide range of processes such as the early photographic process of Wet Plate Collodion—it employs a glass plate, coated with iodised collodion that is later dipped in silver; the Cyanotype—a UV light-sensitive photographic process; Albumen Printing—a photographic process formulated in the 19th Century that used the albumen found in egg whites to bind the photographic chemicals to the paper; among many others.
Along with this, the studio also organises workshops and residencies on how to develop one’s own black-and-white film. In addition, the studio also focuses on book binding methods. Sharing the importance of familiarising photographers with these processes, Sahoo adds, “In today’s times, we see a lot of visuals. Everyone is a photographer because there is easy access to the camera. But if someone really wants to be a photographer, they have to know the roots of this practice. An understanding of analogue mediums gives more depth to their work irrespective of the medium they eventually work with,” adds Sahoo.
In a creative mindset
The month-long residency programme offered by The Maze Collective—and funded by the MurthyNAYAK Foundation—-usually takes place every few months wherein the studio invites three artists to learn and experiment with a certain printing process. “A workshop [to teach analogue photography] for four to five days does not make sense. The idea is to also help them practise. This one-month residency allows artists to learn the process and by the end of it, they get to create a certain body of work.”
This month, the artists in residence experimented with the gum oil painting process. The final body of work was showcased at Khoj Studios, Khirkee Extension. Telling us about their experience, Upendra Sinha (30), a Chhattisgarh-based photographer—he attended the residency last month—shared, “I read about the process on the internet, but there is not much available. At the residency, we were first taught the theory, Ashish [Sahoo] demonstrated the process and eventually we created our own projects.”
Priya Thakur (26)—Mumbai-based photographer who plans to move to Delhi soon—whose final work comprised a series of five prints that touch upon the hypocritical notions of beauty and critique consumerism, concluded, “Before this, I have never had any analogue experience. The residency program was labour intensive but it really opened my eyes to the many photographic and artistic interventions when you are printing using analogue,” affirming that she looks forward to experimenting with the process more in-depth soon.