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Photography

Voyage of discovery

By Aaysha Cader
‘Voyage’ is the continuation of a photographer's quest that began 40 years ago. Nihal Fernando trekked endlessly around Sri Lanka with his camera, mostly in lands not often trod, and where human habitation was minimal. He had one vision in mind, and as he recounts even now, four decades later, "I want to create an appreciation and love for this country."

'Voyage', a collection of photographs presented by Studio Times, will be exhibited at the Harold Peiris Gallery of the Lionel Wendt from February 27 to March 2 to take viewers on their own voyage of discovery.

The photographs are exotic, but more importantly, they tell stories few of us have heard. "Once in three or four years, we present an exhibition of this nature to the public, to create an awareness of the country," reiterates Nihal. His daughter Anu Weerasuriya, who has accompanied him on many of his travels, echoes the sentiment. As a professional photographic studio, Studio Times' business is in industrial and commercial photography, but as Anu says, one of its chief aims is the creation of this awareness of Lankan heritage among its inhabitants.

Tantirimale Road in the dry zone is a popular destination amongst the Studio Times staff. When Nihal Fernando first made his way there on a jeep track, it was jungle, and he met just one person on his way. When Studio Times' photographers returned to the place several decades later, they found that so much had happened since that first visit. Roads had been cut and the land had been cultivated.

Tantirimale Road is captured on camera then, in black and white, and now in colour. The Buddha statues are its main attraction, and the area, once a land of jungle, monkeys, elephants and statues, is now a place where people struggle to live. The informative captions supporting its story relate how when the team visited the area in June 2001, the people had slowly emerged from the jungle following the ceasefire agreement.

Tantirimale is just one of the many stories that Voyage has to tell. The exhibition has many other stories to unfold, and has been aptly categorised as Voyages of the Past, Voyages of the Sixties and Seventies, and Voyages of this Millennium. Voyages of the Past depict forays into museums and libraries that led to the discovery of etchings, lithographs and paintings of Ceylon.

They are photographs presenting paintings of those scenes of Sri Lanka that existed long before Studio Times began. In a brilliant reproduction of those paintings of ancient Lankan lifestyle captured on camera, Nihal Fernando's collection is an insight for the curious, and portrays the day-to-day activity of the common man, as well as historic sites, monuments and bridges built during the period of colonisation.

The voyage continues into the sixties and seventies, an era of black and white photography. Colour transparency filling had to be sent to the UK for quality processing and colour film was not in use at the time. The unrestricted facility to travel freely anywhere in the country was an obvious advantage during this period, and many are the tales Nihal has to tell of his treks to Yala, Wilpattu, the hill country, as well as the ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.

At the wildlife sanctuary of Wilpattu Fernando has captured in candid camera the sequence of a python approaching, capturing and later devouring its kill. Nestling open-billed storks, and reposing leopard, are among others that Fernando has turned into tones of black, grey and white, in a breath-taking display of nature shots.

There are many such photos of yet another much-visited destination -- Yala as well as its famous elephants and diverse flora and fauna. As Nihal Fernando himself says, the journeys were made for the specific purpose of taking photographs, "There are times when we go out to take pictures, slowly look around from the vehicle, wait for hours sometimes, to spot the moment for a picture." There are also other photos, taken in a fleeting instant, all a treat for wildlife enthusiasts.

Also on exhibition are some of the lesser-known monuments of Northern Sri Lanka, such as the Kudiramale Light House, Jaffna Fort or the 1965 snap of a dining room in the dungeon on the island of Kayts. There is also an impressive still of a boat to Delft.

The scenic beauty of the hill capital has not been forgotten. The collection presents breath-taking shots of tea estates, paddy fields, waterfalls and the beginnings of a sunrise at Ambewela, which Anu recounts, "We went early in the morning to get the right shot, it was freezing cold, and the cameras were icy."

Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, its architecture as well as the many tanks at sunset are featured in this photographic voyage of discovery. Some of the lesser-visited cultural sights such as Buduruvagala, Padaviya, Kuveni's palace in Wilpattu, as well as guardstones to numerous temples are also exhibited.

Passionate about photographing trees and people, Fernando has captured many emotions of people, in more recent colour photos. The Lankan lifestyle is beautifully brought out in shots of different people, one among them being a close up of a gypsy woman. Voyage also features photographs of other Studio Times staff namely Anu Weerasuriya, Roshan Perret, Udaya Wijesoma and Christopher Silva.

Getting to see the known and the unknown
By D.C. Ranatunga
Meeting renowned photographer Nihal Fernando is always a most satisfying experience. He talks about the beauty of our country, about the rich heritage and convinces you what a fascinating place it is to live in. He takes you on a voyage of discovery.

Nihal has tremendous faith in the upcoming generation. "Our youngsters are a brilliant lot. They are clever. They are talented. Above all, they show a tremendous interest in our heritage. They are willing to learn," he says.

Nihal is all praise for some of the nature programmes that are telecast over Rupavahini like 'Serisara' which takes the viewer to the beautiful spots in Sri Lanka and pinpoints the dangers to the environment. "These create awareness and also help to build up a sense of national pride," Nihal points out.

Over several decades Nihal has travelled the length and breadth of the country. "I may have gone to Gal Vihara in Polonnaruwa a hundred times. It is such a marvellous sight - a perfect work by our craftsmen," he reminisces.

I asked him whether there is any place in Sri Lanka that he has not been to. Only a little stretch up in the north from Kokilai to Mandagal which is desert country, and a few islands off Mannar, he says. A few months back he was in Padaviya where he photographed a stone bridge 730 feet long, 30 feet wide. In fact, he had a mishap there when he had a fall and has now been advised to rest.

From the early sixties, Nihal and his colleagues at Studio Times, the institution he founded, have been on the move looking for the known and unknown spots in Sri Lanka and recording them on film.

I have had the good fortune of accompanying both Nihal and his former colleague Pat Decker on many a trip during the days I handled publicity for Ceylon Tobacco.

We used to spend the nights at Tobacco circuit bungalows situated in some of the most picturesque spots in the hill country. Never will I forget the hours we spent chatting away late into the night about the surroundings or the beautiful places we had seen during the day.

Over the years we have been enjoying Nihal Fernando's efforts through exhibitions as well as through some excellent publications. Very soon - from February 27 until March 2 - we will get another opportunity to view some of his work when he holds an exhibition at the Harold Peiris Gallery at the Lionel Wendt. Titled 'Voyage', the exhibition will feature images from the Studio Times archive of photographs.

Studio Times exhibitions have always been a treat. Starting with 'Wild Life 71' there have been a dozen exhibitions. The upcoming one is the thirteenth. They have been highly appreciated by nature lovers. The Studio Times publications made sure that we did not forget what we had seen in the exhibitions.

The publications not only carried the best of photographs but the narratives were excellent reading. Nihal's Prologue in 'The Wild, The Free, The Beautiful' (1986), for example, described in simple terms his thirst for travel. "Pat Decker and I, I would say, were partners; and the sum total of our capital for a start was the sun, the moon, and the stars. Backed by that huge golden hoard, we wandered together along a thousand treks through a hundred woody wildernesses, each striking out to capture in his own right those shots of the wild, the free and the beautiful of our dreams," he wrote.

Nihal deservedly gets a place in Charlie A. Gunawardena's 'Encylopedia of Sri Lanka' as a "leading photographer whose feeling for the natural beauty of the island has accompanied a concern for its environmental integrity”.The write-up also reminds us that Nihal has been active in campaigns to protect the environment and in efforts to promote traditional agriculture. Nihal's parting words as I left were: "We are a vile generation. I am pinning my faith on the next."

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