Frederic Delangle's Bewitching Photographs Of Ahmedabad At Night

Frederic Delangle

In the dead of night, when the citizens of Ahmedabad were tucked into bed counting sheep, French photographer Frédéric Delangle walked the labyrinthine streets photographing the architectural landscape of a city in slumber. The largest city of Gujarat, Ahmedabad boasts of its once thriving opium trade with China, the immense textile sector and beautiful architecture that stands today in the midst of frantic traffic jams and street life, enveloped in smokey haze.

‘Ahmedabad No Life Last Night’ is Delangle’s charming photography project of the city at night that he made back in 2006. Unable to capture the image he desired during the hustle-bustle of the day, he waited till night time when the store shutters are down and the frenzy of daily life would come to a standstill. It wasn’t the stories of the city’s residents that intrigued Delangle, but the spectacles that the urban space itself has played host to over the years, right from the 11th century when it was first inhabited. Any object created by a person has a tale to tell; walls hold a permanent space with numerous stories. at times they aren’t difficult to discern, an easy parable; and at others, a tangled tongue twister. In the dim glow of streetlights, Delangle took long exposure shots, leaving the shutter open for five, even ten minutes at a time, that resulted in dream-like images of the metropolis’ bare foundation. We catch glimpses of people, dogs sleeping on pavements after a long and hot day, even guest appearances from our personality of the year, and a slightly unsettling idleness of a chaotic kaleidoscope of architecture, that presents a mix of steel shutters, concrete, tiny balconies, all huddled together with intervals of advertisement signs.

“Too many people, too much traffic, too much pollution, too much everything. It amazes me that the idea of “zero” was born here! Maybe it’s because the notion of zero induces that of infinity… Ahmedabad’s defined by multitudes, excess and profusion,” writes Delangle in the introduction to the series. “So – how are you supposed to set up a tripod and a 4×5 inch camera in the middle of the day? Impossible! Henri Cartier-Bresson photographed this city during the day, it’s true; but that was 50 years ago (and in the last 30 years, the traffic has increased 700 fold). What he was interested in was the people. To me, what’s amazing is the urban entity itself...It was during the night that I went back the furthest: when the chaos and modernity stopped, I could explore the bowels and skeleton of the deserted city.”

Posted below are some of Delangle’s haunting photographs of a deserted Ahmedabad which he explored “before the dawn of a new days madness.” The entire series can be viewed at his official webpage.