Portrait photographer KGS is dead

BENGALURU: Ace portrait photographer K G Somasekhar died of pneumonia here on Sunday evening. He was 80. Born in Hirekerur in Dharwad district, Somasekhar (popularly know as KGS) came to Bengaluru and studied till Intermediate. His passion for carving portraits on sandalwood foils put him in a different league. G Venkatachalam of the Salar Jung Museum, Mumbai, advised him to continue his foil carvings in Mumbai "as there would be a great demand there". After sandalwood foil work for a decade, his vision blurred and he could not continue doing it. Later, industrialist Chaitanya Bhai Patel offered Somsekhar photography equipment and asked him to take portraits. After capturing the first photograph of Hindustani vocalist Mallikarjun Mansur, Somasekhar went on to shoot about 1,300 personalities, mostly from literature, music, theatre and science. Noted personalities who posed for him include music legends Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubai Hangal, Bismillah Khan, literary giants Kuvempu, D V Gundappa and Kamala Das, theatreperson Vijay Tendulkar and film personalities Satyajit Ray and Amrish Puri. He was averse to clicking politicians and sportspersons, but the only exceptions were former chief minister D Devaraj Urs and badminton ace Prakash Padukone. Somasekhar banked on natural light, and the possible shadow, for his photographs. All his portraits showed only one ear of the subject, and that was his signature.