With their geometrical patterns and shaded spaces, India’s stepwells have always been a photographer’s delight. They have inspired numerous books, the latest of which is American photographer Claudio Cambon’s To Reach the Source: The Stepwells of India, published in February by ORO Publishers, USA. At a presentation organised by Arthashila Ahmedabad on Sunday, the author recalls his amazement when he saw his first stepwell near Jaipur when he was touring India with his mother.
“Most people in the West have never even heard of stepwells, let alone seen one. It’s too bad many tourists miss seeing the Adalaj stepwell even when they visit Ahmedabad, which is ground zero for stepwells in India,” he says.
Since then, Claudio has photographed dozens of stepwells across India. The cover of his book features a Yoni-shaped well near the remote village of Mailcherla in the interiors of Andhra Pradesh, several hours’ drive from Bengaluru. “The tradition seems to have died in North India, but they still build decorative wells in the South, though the designs are not as elaborate as the ones that came before,” he says.
Credit: Claudio Cambon Photos by Mark Sprecher
Among the other striking pictures in the book are the helical stepwell in Walur, Maharashtra and geometry of the steps in Chand Baori in Abaneri, Rajastan. The tribes of the Amazon in South America believe that the line where a structure meets its reflection in water is the line of transcendence and Claudio has tried to capture this idea with his photograph of the Chakla Baoli step well in Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh. “The best thing about photography is that you can shoot in a way that can get the picture to say something,” he says.
The photographer also has the privilege of designing a shot with props of his choosing, like in a studio. In Shakti Kund stepwell in Akhaj, Gujarat, Claudio arranged for the steps to be lit with lamps, creating a magnificent effect. India is a nation of living heritage and many of Claudio’s photographs show people engaging with their local stepwells. There is a picture of a boy in Karnataka using the well as a swimming pool and in Adalaj, there are women dancing the garba.
Claudio, who lives in Paris, has many anecdotes on his Indian stepwell adventures, such as the time he heard an eerie splashing in the depths of a well in the evening, which turned out to be a catfish that had been transported into the water to eat the mosquitoes which tended to breed there. Then there was a stepwell which the local people had refurbished with cement and tiles. “The aesthetic was bad, but even here, we were able to find a space further inside that photographed well. You need to be patient and wait to find a good space to shoot,” he says.
Also Read: Why Usha Uthup Still Has Universal Appeal
