Noshir Gobhai

A photographer-by-chance, whose decades-long career is a constant pursuit of capturing built structures in a positive visual aesthetic.

Curated by: Rupali Sebastian 
Photographs: Courtesy Noshir Gobhai 

Gobhai’s foray into architectural photography may have happened by chance — when school friends-turned-practising architects requested him to capture their work — but this happenstance evolved into a decades-long pursuit of portraying built structures in a positive visual aesthetic. He has contributed to several books, including Hampi: A Story in Stone and Stories in Glass: The Stained Glass Heritage of Bombay.

“Photography has undergone a big change… especially in the image recording medium — from film to digital,” says the senior photographer. “However, a photograph is judged by its aesthetic. The way a photo is ‘acceptable’ today, too, has changed. For instance, the use of perspective correction lenses. Earlier, one would never dream of tilting a camera slightly upwards to accommodate a tall structure — which often gives a more natural, easy-on-the-eyes photo. This is in contrast to the unnecessarily (upward) stretched images, produced by the excessive use of perspective correction lenses, especially the extra wide angle ones.

“The change is also significant in the inclusion of very wide angle lenses. Less is more… there is no need to jam in every bit of the space in front of the lens into the final photo. In fact, here lies the skill of the photographer to convey correctly, the ambience of the space, with precise inclusion of key elements. This is possible with ‘single point perspective views’ wherein the view is captured straight on.”

Noshir Gobhai commenced professional photography in 1988.