Dubai: Award-winning Indian photographer Ramesh Shukla was all smiles during a personal appearance celebrating his highly respected camera work at the ninth edition of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.
Speaking to a well-attended session titled ‘Behind the Lens’ on Wednesday night, Shukla beamed as his pictures flashed on a large screen overhead, testimony to a life well lived after moving to Dubai more than four decades ago.
Shukla’s smile widened when a single black-and-white photograph appeared on screen depicting the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and the then Rulers on December 2, 1971 at Union House after they created a new unified nation called the United Arab Emirates.
“This picture was the best picture of my whole life,” Shukla said. “This picture is the start of the life of the UAE.”
A favourite photographer of the UAE ruling families in the early days of the country, Shukla humbly reminded festival ticket holders that the historical image was selected as the UAE National Day graphic image, now a household item across the country.
As Shukla’s fame grew in the UAE following a prolific career shooting striking images earlier for notable publications such as American-based Vogue magazine, the husband and father opened Ramesh Gallery Four Seasons and published a number of books containing a handful of the thousands of images he clicked down through the decades.
A former Times of India photographer, Shukla first came to the UAE at the age of 23 in the 1960s with only Rs50 in his pocket, seven rolls of film and a Rolleicord camera given to him by his father.
Life wasn’t easy with his wife Tarn and young son Neel but Shukla recounted his first years in Dubai with fondness, recalling a tiny home in Al Nasr Square where life revolved around raw, earthy images of Dubai street life to more refined, commissioned portraits of well-known UAE families who would knock on his door to request his superlative shutterbug services.
An acccomplished painter in his own right, Shukla said at the time “in my home, we had no electricity, no water, no air-conditioning. It was a big problem. Everyone came to my home, they wanted me to take their picture”.
Son Neel, who shared the literature festival stage with his father, said times may have been lean for his mother and father starting out in a new country but capturing images painted in light was always at the forefront of the family mission.
“My parents never sacrificed their passion for photography,” said Neel, adding that with little money to spare, buying top photographic equipment was a challenge.
Quipping that when he was very young, the family “had a darkroom and a spa”, they built a small pool in the floor large enough to chemically develop and fix large-scale photographs for sale and display. When not in professional use, the pool was cleaned and filled with water for a tiny makeshift swimming pool for a young son who adored his gifted father.
Neel said that he and his father are set to release in coming months a three-volume collection of images taken across Asia — from India and the UAE to Oman — through the decades.
Shukla’s latest book, ‘The United Arab Emirates, Fifty Years in Pictures’, is a best-seller across the country and beyond.
