Scintillating photographs of breathtaking views from across the world shot by a senior employee of the Delhi Metro attempts to celebrate the creative spirit of man and the bewildering beauty of nature.
A five-day long selling exhibition of 80 pictures shot by Sharat Sharma, Director, Operations, Delhi Metro is currently is set to open at India Habitat Centre here on February 13.
Inspired by the sublime beauty of nature and artistic zeal of man, the show titled "Inspired to Inspire", promises a photographic tour across the world with a view of golden mountain tops during sunrise at Leh, scenic alpine villages in Switzerland, the historical Debod Temple against crystal clear water body in Madrid and unexplored havens of beauty in India.
Sharma, who is not a professional photographer, has nurtured the art of capturing near to perfect aerial shots over the years and the upcoming show is the second show by him, the first being held in the October 2014 at the same venue.
Sharma's wife Kamalnaini, a cancer survivor and qualified lawyer, has curated the show.
"Our first exhibition titled 'A Tryst with Divinity' got a very good response in 2014. The proceeds of the show will go to charities including Helpage India and National Association for the Blind," says Sharma.
An engineer by profession, Sharma who ensures safe and prompt transportation of over 28 lakh metro commuters, is also the president of Metro Adventure Club and Metro Culture Club in Delhi.
"What makes this exhibition unique is the experiment with photography and a beautiful merging of technology with art", says Sharma who presented a photographic production of Indian flowers on a glass display that can be back lit through LED lighting.
Under this experiment, the photographer says, different
mediums like canvas, tiles and glass can be used to bring out life like pictures of flowers or anything, shot in their natural environment.
"India itself needs to be explored through a lens, there are so many unexplored picturesque places that sit right into the lap of nature", says Sharma.
One of the images he has clicked a few years ago is a lifelike panoramic photograph of the Kedarnath mountains and another is an aerial shot of the snow clad mountains of Kazakhstan captured in a flight around 30,000 feet above.
"Having a tete-a-tete with hard to reach places in not everybody's cup of tea and there are financial and time constraints too. But my inspiration and motive has been to capture the most beautiful faces of nature and human civilization which is worth keeping in memory forever", he says.
For Sharma, photography is a stress buster and despite a busy schedule as a top official of Delhi Metro, he says he never forgets to take his lenses along, be it a official tour or a holiday.
"Our 2014 exhibition got a wide coverage, with a lot of young spectators", says Sharma.
Among the most curious and 'magical' aerial shots is the one taken flying flying over Iraq.
"It looks like a painting and draws a million thoughts in the first look", says Sharma who has captured some other brilliant photographs from Sikkim, Leh, Italy, Spain among others.
"Aerial photography is a photographer's real challenge. It requires perfect balance and camera adjustment. However, photography is a pure science but I have personally come across many people who don't know about the technicalities, but yet click stunning pictures."
"That's why I feel that it is also about the emotions and imagination of a person behind the lens", says Sharma who feels that life is much beyond the routine job and social relations.
