Photographically, I found myself in India. I would have been nothing if I had not come here. At first, I did not know what I was looking for…but my Indian experiences brought everything into focus and helped my inner growth.

One of the world's renowned photographers of interiors, Lord Derry Moore, the Earl of Drogheda, was in India recently, continuing his tryst with the nation that began with his first trip here in the early '70s. On his latest visit here, he undertook a limited number of exclusive photographic commissions.

Moore, who studied with the legendary British lensman, Bill Brandt, turned professional photographer in 1971. Most known for his images of houses, portraits and interiors, Moore is captivated by the variegated colours of India, as was evidenced in his exhibition, Shadows of India.

Of his first trip here, Moore recalls landing at Mumbai airport, early in the morning - "the women custom officers in their crisp, white saris and the epaulets on their shoulders, were beautiful" - and watching the city wake up to its routine hustle and bustle - "I can still remember driving through the streets of Mumbai…hearing the noise of the crows, a sound that is so very much Indian."

Initially attracted by the idea of photographing the fast-fading princely palaces for posterity, Moore soon trained his lens on the 'unspoilt, timeless fabric of Indian life'.

"Photographically, I found myself in India. I would have been nothing if I had not come here. At first, I did not know what I was looking for…but my Indian experiences brought everything into focus and helped my inner growth."

"I was fascinated by the hybrid architecture of the grand buildings in different Indian cities. Many of them were a conglomeration of Hindu, Muslim, European, modern and, at the same time, traditional styles. It was a sort of craziness that was appealing."

"The title, Shadows of India, was inspired firstly, by the fact that photographs rely heavily on light and shade. Also, shadows are fleeting, they pass us by. My images capture moments that will soon disappear."

For the rest of the article, pick up VERVE’s January-February, 2005 issue