Visualising thoughts – Aishwarya Upadhye,THE HINDU

“It is never about the type of camera, it is always about the perception and the thought put in a shot that makes for a wonderful picture,” says Apuroopa Reddy, a 24-year-old photographer from the city.

Apuroopa recently hosted her first exhibition at the alumni meet of Andhra University called, WAVES 2018. An alumni of the Department of Architecture, she displayed her recent work on rivers and the pitiable state in which they survive. “For me, photography is my way of expressing. My photos imply the stand I take on several issues. It is like an addiction now, I have to do something creative everyday or it just leaves me restless,” she says.

Thoughts in photographs

While on a trip to Ujjain in February this year, Apuroopa saw something that would haunt her for several years. Sitting by the banks of the Narmada, she saw people worshipping the river on one side while on the other dumping garbage in it. “This forced me to personify her and wonder what her feelings would be,” she says. And hence stemmed the idea of a new project where she chose eight rivers flowing across the country and personified them giving each one a voice to state their woes. The series titled, ‘The Rivers Project’ was completed in a span of three months. While shooting was a month’s task, a huge amount of effort was put in to researching about every river and its problems. Speaking about the Godavari which flows through Rajahmundry and is a water body of major prominence for the region, Apuroopa says that as a tradition people toss coins in the river. Unlike today, back then there were brass coins which added minerals to the water. “Today, people toss steel coins which do nothing else but harm the ecosystem. There needs to be more awareness about the impact our actions have on the environment,” she says.

Born in Visakhapatnam, the photographer shuttles between cities as per her work’s demands. “It is due to all the travelling that I am more open-minded and tolerant towards different opinions and cultures,” she says. However, home has always been Visakhapatnam for her.

It all began here

“Though the city has expanded over the years and many new things have come up, we still have so many open spaces. It is so unlike the concrete jungles of bigger cities and probably that’s why this city anchors me,” she says.

The love for photography developed when she began capturing the setting sun from her balcony every day when she was 17 years old. The interest grew into hobby and hobby finally took the shape of passion over the course of years. “I wanted to study in Hyderabad but my parents offered to buy me a DSLR and a two-wheelerif I stayed back and pursued education in Visakhapatnam. That is how I got my first DSLR,” she says in a jovial tone. Armed with her DSLR Apuroopa was a frequent participant of the photo walks by the Vizag Photography Club. “I never enrolled for a course in photography. It was on these walks that I learnt so many things from other people,” she says. Apuroopa who specialises in product, food and portrait photography says that over the years due to the onset of social media the demand for food photography has increased. “Earlier restaurants and food chains just clicked a few pictures for the hoardings; but now they need to constantly keep updating their social media accounts for which they need photographers. Several cafés in Visakhapatnam are now reaching out to photographers for this,” she says.