Alipriya Ghosh Blends Frames to Create Majestic New Worlds
I feel joy when a photographer takes two separate worlds, blends them together, and creates something new. Whether it’s in camera or through editing software, multiple exposures hit me differently. I adore that photographers can see the potential relationships between scenes, and when they mix well, they become the perfect photographic cocktail. Alipriya Ghosh is a photographer whose double exposures I can’t stop drinking in.
Alipriya Ghosh sent me a body of work that instantly gave me a rush of endorphins. The images made me feel like a special guest in her fantasy world. It’s a world that’s rich in color, full of the earth’s natural wonders, and one that comes with a touch of humanity to inspire an emotional connection. She also plays with light in a way that feels like a fresh alternative to what I’m used to seeing.
Speaking with her, I also grew to like Ghosh’s creative ethos. “There is no end goal,” she tells me. Instead, she thrives off her thirst to experiment, to get things right, and to get things wrong. She does so in the hope of creating something more than what the normal eye can identify. Ghosh is very good at what she does, and it seems, at least to me, that she’s getting everything right almost all of the time.
What I really like is that while there’s a constant theme to Ghosh’s images, her subjects are an eclectic group, and she shoots them in a way that allows them all to share a similar identity. It’s still early days in her photography career, however the biggest compliment I can pay her is that her style is instantly recognizable, something most photographers wait a lifetime to achieve.
When Ghosh sent me her series Superimposed, I was quick to book in an interview. She kindly took the time to share some of her back story, her motivations, her relationship with Samsung India, and why photography means so much to her. I’m certain you’ll enjoy it.
Them Frames: Hey, Alipriya! Tell us a little more about you, how did you get into the wonderful world of photography?
Alipriya Ghosh: Hello, I'm from Kolkata, the city which holds on to the best of its past while marching on into the future. I guess that has shaped me to become a person who always strives for, and hopes, to achieve balance. I'm currently in Mumbai doing my final year of my MBA.
Photography, for me, started years ago and has stayed with me longer than most other sparks of life. I still remember when I was in school and got my first phone, I started experimenting and taking photographs. Back then it was anything and everything that seemed aesthetic and appealing and that the 2MP phone camera could capture. I would mostly take photos from the window and terrace, on evening walks, and also in and around the house.
Skip some years and in 2020, Covid and the lockdown gave me ample spare time. The ever-changing skies became a constant subject. I started revisiting old photographs. That is when I started experimenting with colors and exposures. I found myself taking short videos too, which I hardly ever did before, although I'd always be constantly taking photographs. I'm someone who likes to keep on documenting anything interesting in the world around me.
Them Frames: Let’s talk about Superimposed. How did you come up with the idea for this photo series?
Alipriya Ghosh: Ever since I started photography and was absolutely marveled by photographers around me, I had always been amused by the style of double exposures. It's about creating different worlds and evoking emotions by merging what already exists. It was only after the lockdown that I myself started making double exposures.
The process, for me, is all about experimenting. There's no end goal. But everything about the editing process, from the choice of palettes to scenes, is mainly triggered by my state of mind at the time and even my surroundings. I also have earphones on most of the time, and I can't deny that the music has some effect too.
I didn't start this as a series but it ended up being one of my favorite styles. It is still ongoing. Whenever I sit and edit, sometimes I am in the mood for experimenting.
Them Frames: Human hands seem to be a common theme in your photography work. What draws you to them and why do you enjoy making them a part of the projects you create?
Alipriya Ghosh: Well, I have always been intrigued by hands and their touch and folds. Hands always tend to be outspoken even when you are not, and I see them as a way of reaching out. I guess that is why they have just found their way into my photographs
I had spent some days of the early lockdown documenting hands, while playing with light and shadows and, of course, colors. I would closely observe them along with photographing them in different settings. It's interesting how the spaces between fingers convey different emotions and thoughts.
Them Frames: Superimposed is a blend of double exposures. Can you tell us how you created the images, in camera, in editing software? What was the process like?
Alipriya Ghosh: Like I was saying, there's no end goal. It is all about merging moments and playing around with colors until suddenly you stop because you like what you're seeing. I am a believer in, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts"
I edit every photograph on my phone. My go-to apps are Snapseed and VSCO. With the Superimposed series too, it is the same, mainly on Snapseed's double exposure mode.
Them Frames: How would you describe your personality and do you transfer it into your photographs?
Alipriya Ghosh: I shoot pretty much everything from streets to thunderstorms to portraits, but the post-processing afterward is what I enjoy the most. It is a process of calming down with it at the end of the day.
I keep taking photographs whenever I find something that catches my eye, grand or not. It is only later on that I visit the photos and see what I still like and want to make something grander out of.
Them Frames: You work with Samsung India, can you tell us more about that, please?
Alipriya Ghosh: My connection with Samsung India started when they invited me to the first Galaxy Creators Lounge in New Delhi in 2021. I had won a competition there in the Lounge. Now the contract continues where I review the range of Galaxy series while taking photographs for Samsung.
Them Frames: Going back to Superimposed, which is your personal favorite photo from the series and why?
Alipriya Ghosh: If I had to choose one, it'd be the one below. I love spending time with children and photographing them. This was a portrait of a kid I met in the outskirts of Kolkata and it is also one of the first photographs from the Superimposed series that I really hold close to my heart. I call this "Dreamer".
Them Frames: Finally, why do you need photography in your life?
Alipriya Ghosh: I want to make people feel things. That's it. With colors, light play, stories, and places. I want to make people see things that they would normally ignore. I want to bend what is, by editing what is, for better or for worse, but to go with the way my mind speaks at the moment I'm processing it.
And now that I think about it, it is all because one photograph or rather the person behind the photograph made me feel things. When I say one photograph, I mean the multitude of photographs that make me feel things on a daily basis, that speak more than the reality behind them.
