Book Review: Trees by Raghu Rai

Trees by Raghu Rai

Nature in all its glory has been photographed time and again. In the book, Trees, we see mesmerising black and white photographs of one of nature’s oldest guardians.

It is here that we truly see Rai’s love for the natural world. While on various assignments all over the country, he translated this passion into creative expression. In an interview he mentioned, “Many of these images cannot be explained, since a lot of them are about feelings and energy. I am not telling a story… so the viewer either gets it or does not.” The photos are an interesting departure from his previous work of serious reportage and street photography, for which he is widely known.

Fantastically produced with some lovely black and white printing, the book is still and calm, much like the trees themselves. Silent yet relentless, the trees are viewed as omnipresent in the lives of humans. They are worshiped and ignored, revered and cut down. They stand through time, their roots crawling over houses, untamed and wild or they act as solace from the sun on a sultry afternoon or are even used as a play thing for young children to swing into the river. In the book we see the trees as an insider, outsider, a support system, a pillar, in just about every phase of life. In one of the images, we see the tree growing out of Raghu Rai’s shadow, as an inseparable part of him.

Title: Trees
Author: Raghu Rai
ISBN: 978-93-82846-01-7
Publisher: PhotoInk
Price: Rs. 1800