I Went Out as an Ad Guy and
Came Back as a Photographer:
Rafeeq Ellias
Kanchi Mehta

KM: Where have you traveled?
RE: Through China, Central Asia, Uzbekistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Gaza, Syria, Tashkent,
Moldova, Bucharest, Russia, etc. Some places I went just to take pictures. Some I went to on
assignments through travel magazines and cultural festivals such as Ballet across the world.
KM: Which project or body of work you produced stands out for you?
RE: The work I did for the international Ballet and Opera was most exciting. I traveled for 8
years in a row, all over the world and taking pictures of the performances, the operas, back stage,
etc. These pictures were used extensively for brochures, catalogs, books, hoardings, posters etc.
KM: Moving on to filmmaking. How did that start?
RE: It was a first 16 mm documentary in 1998 as a cinematographer for Britain’s Channel Four
on the Kumbh Mela in India (“The Nectar of Immortality”), which was shot over 65 days in the
higher peaks of the Himalayas down to Haridwar and Rishikesh on the river Ganga. After which
I made several films. However, the movie I made on Calcutta China Town called “The Legend of
Fat Mama”, as a documentary on the minority of the Chinese in Calcutta. The movie got me many
awards, and recognition. It became a landmark film in my career.
KM: How do you visually process your images? Is there an ideology which reflects in your
work? How do you process the moment which is preceded by contemplation, research or purely
instinct.
RE: You know, I am a split personality. Advertising works as an amoral industry, but when you
do photojournalistic work, which in my case is largely travel and culture, you need to bring to it
substantial ethics and a greater contemplation of the complicity of those visual spectacles. The
unseen in the seen. Once you are aware of that you can begin to explore further. It influences your
work and shows up at different levels.
KM: How has your relationship with the equipment changed over the years?