The clutch of Gunter Wehrmann photographs on display at the Mandarin Hall of Taj Bengal leaves one asking for more. The German consul-general in Calcutta, says he has ?never aimed for a particular style?, shooting only ?what I enjoy doing, like to see or find interesting?.
Wehrmann shoots ?in order to preserve such memories, take them home to keep, to enjoy again later, and to share with others?. He describes the works casually as just those that are ?currently on the walls of my residence and of my office? more scenics than people, and sledge dogs?.
But the pictures taken during his travels in Europe, Nepal, Tibet and the US are hardly vacation snaps. They bear the mark of a passionate lensman who has honed his skill over 40 years taking professional photography classes at NYC?s International Centre of Photography, The Maine Photographic Workshops, and the Photographic Workshops in Santa Fe. An admirer of photographers like Galen Rowell, Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Alan Harvey and Raghubir Singh, Wehrmann displays a keen sensitivity and an eye for beauty in the most mundane of things.
Take the endearing black-and-white portrait of the dog or that of the dreamy-eyed traveller resting on his baggage at the Cologne railway station. The natural scenes seem to convey some of the photographer?s feeling of awe and isolation before the overwhelming beauty and strength. Few can forget the frame full of metallic pink and blue waves washing over rocks at sunrise near Otter Cliffs, Acadia National Park, or the almost invisible ripples on Manosarowar Lake. The clouds above the Manosarowar heaped in a spectacular white crown shape and the whitish blue mountain range in the distance add to the significance of the tiny shrines seen below. In contrast there is the eerie stillness of the lonely cloud seen hovering beside the Twin Towers in the photograph taken by Wehrmann from Ellis Island. The spangle of colours beamed from countless highrise windows of Lower Manhattan with the sky in warm sunset hues above and the snowy expanses of Germany make quite a mark.
