I am delighted to invite you to my very first exhibition of 50 large prints, opening on 8th September at Gallery 1885, London. This exhibition is a celebration of India — its culture, landscapes, portraits, architecture, and travel — photographed over the last 50 years. Many of these works have been exhibited in over 40 countries, won awards, and been published, but this is the first time they are being shown together in one place. It would mean so much to me if you visited to see India captured through my camera. I hope you’ll enjoy the journey as much as I’ve loved creating it...

https://www.thecameraclub.co.uk/blog/

https://www.thecameraclub.co.uk/blog/post/gallery-1885-exhibition-ashok-viswanathan

I love photography... I enjoy taking pictures as well as looking at them.

For as long as I can remember, photography has been both a refuge and a thrill—a way of seeing, a way of feeling, and sometimes simply a way of breathing. I’ve spent decades taking pictures and just as many years losing myself in the images of others.

Friends and fellow photographers have often asked why I’ve never mounted a full exhibition of my own work. I never had a convincing answer. Perhaps the time simply wasn’t right.
With my 70th birthday approaching in September 2025, it felt like the moment had finally arrived to look back at the photographs I’ve made over the last fifty years—beginning with the grain and mystery of monochrome film and evolving into the precision and possibility of digital capture.But one question lingered: where?

Most galleries are understandably cautious about showing the work of a photographer without a public profile. Awards and publications don’t always tip the scales, even if I’ve been fortunate to have my work exhibited in salons across more than forty countries, honoured internationally, and published in respected journals including those of the Royal Photographic Society, the Photographic Society of America, Fuji X Passion, LensWork, French Foto, Lens Magazine, The Viewfinder, Fuji Love, Asian Photography, and others—both in print and online. I was especially privileged to have previously been included in the “London Salon of Photography.”

So it was a profound surprise and a deep honour when Gallery 1885 in London, now celebrating its 140th year, invited me to present a solo exhibition. This is a space that in the last 140 yeara has welcomed the work of Masters such as Cecil Beaton, F.J. Mortimer, and many other distinguished photographers. To stand on the same walls is a privilege I do not take lightly.

My heartfelt thanks to Dr Monica A. Walker of Gallery 1885 for her guidance, encouragement, and unwavering support in bringing this exhibition to life.


Technical Information
My early images were mostly shot on FP3 or ORWO roll film using a Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta. I later moved to a 35mm format, Minolta SRT101, followed by a Nikkormat FTn and Nikon FM with four lenses. Imported film and bromide paper was both expensive and hard to come by in the 1970s and 80s. In 2002, I explored digital photography with an Olympus D460 (1.3 MP), upgrading a year later to a Nikon D100 DSLR (6.1 MP) with a 24–85mm f/2.8 Nikon AF macro zoom. Later adding the classic 14mm f/2.8 Nikon AFD and the 80–200mm f/2.8 AF-ED Nikon zoom.

I shoot in RAW and process using Affinity Photo on an ageing MacBook Air. My monitor is a 24-inch EIZO, colour-profiled, with Adobe ProPhoto as the default colour space. In 2013, I moved to a Fuji X-Pro 1 with an 18–55mm f/2.8 lens and, by 2015, switched from Nikon to Fuji using a Metabones adaptor to mount Nikon lenses on the Fuji mirrorless system. A few years later, I upgraded to the Fuji X-E3, a 24MP compact camera. In September 2015, I added the Fuji 50–140mm f/2.8 pro-grade lens, followed by the 10–24mm f/4 Fujinon lens. I now use only Fuji lenses, except for a vintage Nikon 105mm f4.0 macro with a Metabones adaptor. I’m currently waiting for Fuji to release a 300mm f/2.8 AF prime.

My Rolleiflex 3.5F had a CLA and brought out of retirement to shoot my favourite emulsion Ilford FP4 and HP5 as well as the occasional PAN F. Film is developed in D76 at 1:1 dilution. The negatives are scanned using a light box and using my Fuji XE3 with a vintage Nikon 105 mm f4 macro lens. The RAW file is then taken into Affinity for further processing. I’ve also added another Rolleiflex 3.5 and Hasselblad 500 CM/503CW systems with 50mm, 80mm, 180mm, and 500mm lenses, three backs, and prism finders. My tripod of choice is a compact Manfrotto carbon fibre model with a ball head.

The A3 prints for this exhibition were printed by N. Nara of SALTREE, Chennai, using large-format Epson printers on German Felix Schoeller smooth rag 300gsm paper in rolls. I am deeply grateful to Felix Schoeller, Schoeller Industrien India for their support of this exhibition.

Last but not least a special thank you to Ms Amrita S Chopde, Bangalore, graphic artist and creative director for her technical help and advice over several months.

About Me
A retired company executive with a lifelong passion for travel, landscape, and portrait photography. A long-time salon exhibitor, Received several awards and have had work widely published both in print and online. My website has recorded over 1.5 million hits.

Also interested in alternative photographic techniques of the late 1800s and early 1900s such as Cyanotypes, Bromoil,Van Dyke and Salt prints using large-format internegatives.

Member of the RPS, PSA, and FIP, and served as the Director (2023-25) of the Photographic Society of Madras, a camera club founded in 1857. I am now the Vice President (2025-27). I also judge international exhibitions and host monthly webinars connecting photographers and their work.