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Photographer Karthick Ramalingam

The seventh child of Ramalingam and Thangam, Karthik was born in a village near Thanjavur. An MSc in Computer Science, Karthick played around with a camera when he was under 10 years. His interest in the varied expressions of the human face led him to portrait photography. “I love expressions in human faces and that’s why I tend to shoot a lot of them,” he says with a wry smile breaking out. And adds, “I love black and white. And feel that the depth of emotions are not captured well on colour. It’s more poignant in black and white.”

Small reason why he was invited by Alliance Francaise, Chennai, to showcase his stills. Titled “Faces that are lined with stories,” it’s a bunch of 23 portraits of old people whose wrinkles, sunken eyes and high cheek bones speak about the bygone struggles. The exhibition is on till 18th of October, 2009.

Karthick’s passion for photography is matched only by his love for trekking. Often he heads to Nagalapuram, that lies to the North of Chennai on the border of Andhra Pradesh. The terrain here he says, “is replete with hills, trees and beautiful streams.” And it allows him to be with nature and capture its fascinating other side. “I find solace in being with Nature snapping butterflies, structure of the rocks and the odd tusker,” continues he. Amazingly he wears no gear during treks, preferring just his Jockey inner wear and a pair of chappals.

Karthick strongly feels that the standard of education at school level is particularly poor in the rural side. And dreams of turning a professor to do his bit for society. Good luck, Karthick.