Rita Dhital

Kathmandu:

Photokavi” Kumar Ale must be sitting on his first fresh laurels. What with someone like Kamal Mani Dixit honouring him with an epithet and his exhibition kicking off with colour and glamour

at Nepal Art Council, Babermahal, first day first show. Ale’s determination of investing so many years on one subject, that is the portrait of creative figures, which is considered rather non-lucrative by the society at large, is worth appreciating. It was not done to earn a living, but as a contribution to the literary field in particular and the culture of the country in general. “Hard work always pays,” says Ale. Fed up with the limitations of studio photography,

which he thinks is rather non-natural; Ale is interested more in capturing the real moments in realistic situations.

Born in a family of photographers (both his father and elder brothers were professional photographers), Ale’s been literally toying with cameras since he was eight years of age. Without having a formal training in this field, he learned photography, hands on, on the job.

His career in professional studio photography began in his elder brother’s Capital Photo Studio. Then he worked for Hicola Color Lab, Thamel for ten years as a technician. “I found the job very tedious so I decided to quit and became a freelancer. I wanted to add creativity to my work. I believe that if you do the same thing differently, it becomes a composition,” says Ale.

Ale, then, started looking for a subject for his photography. The fact that the photographs of major literary figures were not recorded for the next generation to look up to and admire, attracted his attention most. So he wanted to give respect to those in the creative field by keeping a record of these people. “In the beginning, I was fascinated to collect as many photographs of these people as I can in a day. But soon after I realised that taking interest is not enough. Hence I took it as a mission. But it was not an easy job and there is a long struggle hidden behind this collection,” reveals Ale. As he was not representing any organization or not even a photojournalist, it was very difficult for him, in the beginning, to approach people and his identity was always questioned. But he did not lose hope and kept on being in touch with these people, following them everywhere. Finally, he was able to win their hearts and now he has already established a cordial relationship with most of them.

“My journey of collecting photographs began in 1991 when I heard that Keshav Raj Pindali and Kedar Man Bethit were sick in bed. Unfortunately, Pindali passed away before I could click his photograph. My first photograph of the literary figure is that of Bethit which was shot in 1997,” recalls Ale. For the past seven years he has been doing portraiture photography of literary figures. Right now he has a collection of more than 1,500 pictures of both seniors and the young talents.

He has now established a Photo Academy at Churchill Complex (China Town) on his own individual effort. Among his collections, he has exhibited the representative pictures of the Nepali writers, musicians, singers, and artists matching with his theme for now that is

“smile”. This is his first exhibition and seeing a very good response from the viewers, he is excited to continue this as a series in the future. In his earlier days, Ale was fascinated by the thought of his photograph being published with a byline in a newspaper, or, a magazine. His inspirations came from so many photographers like Gopal Chitrakar, Min Bajracharya, Chandra Shekhar Karki and Bikash Rauniyar. “But with time my wants kept changing, and that is natural, too. The desire of human beings is unlimited and as soon as one is fulfilled, we wish for something else. This exhibition is most satisfying for me because I had not thought of it being such a grand show and I am overwhelmed by the good response. My challenge ahead is to give it stability but I want others to come in this field and continue my legacy,” reveals Ale.

Some believe that photography is a matter of technology and equipment but for Ale, it leaves plenty of room for your individual inspiration and creative capabilities. “I have used Nikon FM 2, Nikon 601 with 35mm-70mm Zoom lens and even use Nikon D 100 digital camera. But I do not believe that only the sophisticated cameras could click quality photographs. Photography

is all about capturing the moments of life at its finest and hard work, persistence and personal

vision are needed for quality pictures,” he says.