Berty Gunasekera :

A multi-dimensional photographer

by Dilshan Boange

Berty Gunasekera is a man who let his life be coursed in numerous directions that have seen a convergence towards a fulfilling life of professional and artistic accomplishment. Conversation with him means journeying on paths landscaped with detailed descriptions and comprehensive insights that leave no unexplained or unaccounted gaps in the picture he creates.

Politics, history, philosophy, cinema, music, literature, current affairs and societal transformations are topics that he approaches with a sound knowledge and understanding that offers his interlocutor much to digest and thereby value it far above the mundane chit chat that one encounters on and off as talk that merely ‘jabs’ at ‘erudite topics’ with nothing really worthwhile.

Possessing innate inclinations to indulge in the arts and letters and searches for new knowledge Gunasekera attributes much of his outlooks to have been moulded by his teachers who selflessly imparted their knowledge to the young students they saw as saplings in need of nourishment.

Passion

“Photography was my passion and hobby from school days, ”Gunasekera said with clarity of intention in his manner of speech. “I studied at Tissa Central College in Kalutara. It was the third school in the country to start its own photography club. This was quite a remarkable thing in those times.” The tone and diction indicated that his memory had no lapses and that to speak of those memorable times was as best possible to relive them in delight of reminiscences.

“In our school there was a great teacher who was a mentor to us. He was Elmo Fernando. He had a desire to promote cinema and photography among students. This was a starting point for me. We were lucky that we got to see the best of films that were available at that time. Nanook of the North and The Song of Ceylon are works of cinema that we saw back then.

The experiences stirred in us the desire to learn more about photography and the moving image as well. And another aspect that connected with the growing love for photography was my passion for painting which was a skill I had and developed as a schoolboy.”

Influences

His early pursuit of skilful marshalling of strokes of the paintbrush led him to win first place in the All-Island Buddhist painting competition in 1959 at 19. “The painting I did was ‘Nalagiri damanaya’.The subduing of the great tusker Nalagiri by the Buddha.” What were his influences when it came to develop the art of painting?

“One of the main influences I had was the work of artist Danny Wimalasiri in the ‘Navayugaya’. And another factor is literature.

I have always been an avid reader. When reading the imagery described in the narrative of a story with intent and attention to detail you push your mind to conceive the story in your head as pictures. This enhances your ability to draw your own conceptualised impressions of a certain scene.”

Seeing as how he was passionate about painting and photography and skilled in genres of visual media how does he distinguish his philosophical outlook to define a painting from a photograph when placed in the common scheme of works that are visually perceived and appreciated? Gunasekera sees photography as ‘the creation of a picture’, which is true with painting.

Light

“Photography is about knowing how to paint with the use of light,” he said. “It’s a question of how well the photographer is attuned in his visual senses to grasp the condition of the light that allows him vision of what he is intending to photograph. Photography is drawing with light.

That is what it is about. For example if I was to create a ‘character portrait’ I must think of how the persona of the subject will be captured depending on the different angles the light falls on the subject.

A character portrait that bring out the attributes the subject will depend on how the light is played with. Different character portraits will have diverse methods to control and use the light.

The essence of photography is about knowing that light is what determines visibility and to create the vision you want. You must know how to make light bring out the image or picture you want.

The photograph is the result of that moment of visibility sealed in time.”

This article delves into understanding how veteran photographer Berty Gunasekera’s skills to capture images through a lens, or to ‘paint with light’ as he would describe it, have been resourceful to capture architecture through photography.

Towards this end I spoke with several renowned Sri Lankan architects who have worked with Gunasekera and commissioned him to put his skill to capture as still images some of the testaments they created that edify their skills that further the vision of culture and civilisation.

Nihal Bodhinayake

Architect Nihal Bodhinayake’s association with Berty Gunasekera is a longstanding one which began very much from a social sphere back in the late 1970s and charts its roots to the Green Cabin restaurant which was close to where Bodhinayake worked early in his career which is the architect’s firm of Geoffrey Bawa.

“Our lunch hour had this knack of spanning to about four hours each time we met to have lunch and talk! And how many iced coffees we must have had over the years chatting at Green Cabin only god would be able to calculate!” Reminisced Bodhinayake very fondly with a tone that recaptured the dearness of remembrance.

“I met Berty through a mutual friend of ours –Ranjithlal de Silva who was a schoolmate of mine. Ranjith was a film producer and director and knew Berty well.

The three of us had a passion for the arts. Literature, drama, poetry, and topics such as history and the Sri Lankan heritage led to conversations that immersed us in exchange of ideas and arguments that paved the way for a lifelong friendship. We were peers and were contemporaries as undergrads so there was much that made us bond in our outlooks.”

As I talked with the veteran architect about his own art and how the artistry of Gunasekera proved valuable for him in getting photographs of his works.

Bodhinayake said what he saw about Gunasekera’s understanding about architecture was one that took the latter to see the work of an architect beyond the outwardly visible elements of colours, shapes and sizes alone.

“Architecture has much philosophy behind it. There is a reason why our degree is the one with the longest duration of study; it goes on for seven years after all. It’s like poetry in certain ways.

How one understands the thinking behind the image, the shape that you see, and the emotions that get created consequently have great depths of philosophy behind it.”

Essence

What Bodhinayake revealed to me was how a photographer must know to bring out the essence and spirit of an architect’s work, which has a sense of living materiality, through the limits of width and length imposed by a camera lens.

A daunting proposition, I felt, considering how a great work of architecture which embodies the heart and soul of the creator’s vision when framed through a lens may lose all the metaphysical spirit it inspires in the beholder, if the photographer aims from the wrong angle.

“I first got Berty to photograph one of my works for a magazine. After talking with him about what highlights must be captured to bring out the worth of the structure, Berty knew how to articulate the spaces, by knowing how the curvatures and angularities and so on function within the structure.

I only had to direct him with a few hints. He was able to apply his knowledge of how light must be used on certain focal points and capture the essence of the architect’s vision.”

Going further from that point as to how a photograph of a work of architecture could be understood, since the photograph captures only an ‘angle’ of the work created by the architect, Bodhinayake said “A picture of a structure can be ‘read’ at many levels.

When a photo shoot is commissioned of a building or a project once it is completed, the photographer must know that the object he points his camera lens at is an object that encapsulates a certain sense of aestheticism.

These aesthetic values, factors, make a ‘structure’, an ‘architectural creation’ that manifests a facet of the one who envisioned it and set out to bring it to life.

And what you need to understand is that in a situation as a photo shoot of an architect’s project, it is a dialogue between the architect and the photographer. Berty is very good at that.”

Hirante Welandawe

Similar sentiments of how Gunasekera is a cooperative professional who entertains constructive input from the architect when photographing a project were expressed by Architect Hirante Welandawe who is the managing directress of H.W Architects (Pvt) Ltd. Welandawe came to know Gunasekera upon the latter being recommended by a fellow architect.

To have a photo panel of Welandawe’s work for an exhibition on contemporary architecture that was held at the turn of this century.

“The photos Berty took of my projects were so good that people kept asking me who the photographer was,” said Welandawe who had afterwards commissioned Gunasekera to do photo shoots for publications produced on architecture.

Among what she showed to me as pictorial material that testifies to Gunasekera’s keen eye to capture architectural features of a construction was a set of pictures that appeared in the April 2000 issue of the Indian publication Inside Outside which is a magazine on interior designing. The subject matter was none other than a facet of Welandawe’s own home.

“My house is built on what is called the sun and moon track. This is related to a cosmological positioning between the earth and the sun that puts my home in a 90 degree alignment during the days of the year when the sun is directly above Sri Lanka and the hottest day of the year is recorded in our country.

And the moon also runs along this track on full moon days,” said Welandawe on how the photos that were snapped by Gunasekera for Inside Outside was of the moon rising along the track which can be viewed from the overhead open space of the courtyard which has on both sides windows that allow a view of the ‘track’ along which the sun or the moon would ‘travel’ as rising and descending on those particular days of the year.

Projects

Gunasekera has photographed six of Welandawe’s projects and one such jewel amongst her work so far is the house she designed for Dr. Ranil Fernando and his wife Dr. Mrs. Aswini Fernando in Ragama.

“This particular house was nominated for the Agar Khan Award in 2010. So it must be duly acknowledged that the skill and competency of the photographer to capture the creation played a big role in getting nominated.

“It is the photographs after all that convey the skills of the architect to a panel of judges overseas.” Welandawe said that in her perspective a photographer’s commitment to capture the essence and stylistics of an architect’s authorship of a design depends on having a positive dialogue with the architect and also being committed to capture the most suitable light that best highlights the ‘angle’ sought to be captured as a visual.

“Sometimes you have to be patient and have just the right amount of timing. Sensitivity of the eye as well as the inner senses of the photographer matters very much.

Because there are times when it’s not just about capturing the right elevation of the structure, but also about ‘catching shadows’ to bring out the depth of the structure. Berty is a photographer who is accomplished in these respects.”

Sunil Gunawardane

The Ella Adventure Park owned by Wild Holidays (Pvt) Ltd was designed by Architect Sunil Gunawardane who has also seen first hand how Gunasekera works as a photographer who gives portraiture to works of architecture.

“Berty was introduced by a client. It was Major Welikala the Chairman of Wild Holidays who told me about Berty and that he will be photographing the Ella Adventure Park.

The photographs came out superbly. I was captivated by his sense of visual gauging of a work of architecture.”

Gunawardane said that it was no mean task to capture the essence of a work of architecture through a lens since there are so many facets to a work of architecture that is impossible to be holistically captured in the frame of a photograph.

A significant aspect related to the Ella Resort project in respect of its architectural aspects that Gunawardane pointed out, was that being an eco-friendly forest environs based set of structures, the buildings had to be projected for the salient aspects that needed to be visually highlighted for the different textures they have as materials.

For example, the thatched mud walls and the straw roofs had to be visually projected blending with the environment but still distinguished for the material qualities they posses as structures very different to any urban construction.

In this regard the job of the photographer becomes a notably onerous one where a fine balance between the natural surroundings and the manmade structures had to be presented visually.

With these observations Gunawardane stated that this project in particular had several concerns that were specific to that project due to its uniqueness as an eco-friendly nature resort. “Berty did an excellent job in capturing the facets that spoke of my craft and my signature as an architect in the Elle Resort project.” He concluded.

Suchith Mohotti

Architect Suchith Mohotti has much experience of working with Gunasekera in respect of photography. “Gunasekera is a photographer in whose skill I have complete trust.

I even got him to photograph my wedding,” he said Mohotti had come to know Gunasekera through entrepreneur and parliamentarian Thilanga Sumathipala for whom Mohotti had undertaken various advertising commissions. Another venture that paired them together had also been the English fashion magazine ‘Shenelle’ which was also a venture by Thilanga Sumathipala.

“I hired Gunasekera’s services as a photographer to provide the necessary photographs since I knew his level of skill.”

On the matter of how he proves his worth as a photographer of architecture Mohotti said. “Architecture photography is different from other categories.

The photographer must know how to deal with concepts of spatiality. He must capture spaces.

The correct impression must be conveyed through the lens. The photographer can make a room seem very spacious or narrow if he wants to.

The integrity of the photographer is seen when he captures the essence of what the architect has intended through the creation. Gunasekera is very good at that. He knew how to capture the essence of my work.”

The testimonies manifestly accomplished architects all speak in a voice of oneness of the high calibre of skill and competency possessed by Berty Gunasekera in photographing works of architecture.

Capturing the heart and soul that speaks of an architect through photographs of his work speaks greatly of the aesthetic sensibility and pulse possessed by Gunasekera in his craft.

As a photographer he proves to serve the needs of many ‘creationists’ in the realm of architecture by capturing and projecting constructions through the medium of the ‘still image’.