At the age of 17 when teenagers are mostly engaged with their cell phones either chatting or sharing selfies with friends on the multiple social networking sites, Amira Chanana instead made time to visit the most beautiful places across the globe-like Rome, Madrid, Canada, Paris, Mauritius, Boston and a lot more.

The student captured her memorable moments at these cities and they now serve as a timestamp of her travel moments with friends and family. One can catch a glimpse of these photographs at the young photographer’s first solo show titled ‘Travelogue’ that opened at Alliance Francaise de Delhi recently. 

A look at the 18 pictures on display reveals Chanana’s love for black and white photography as all of them are in monochrome. Asked why she chose the black and white mode, Chanana tells Metrolife, “Black and white photography is emotionally stimulating. It renders emphatic emotions and people get engaged to it in a deeper manner. I think, with colours in a picture you lose the essence of the image. So I personally prefer black and white.” 

Chanana’s love for photography developed at the tender age of 11, influenced by her frequent travels to different parts of the world and her quest to capture every moment at its finest. 

“I started photography at a very young age. I remember, I got my first camera when I was just 11 and since then I never looked back. I was privileged enough to travel around the world, not just with my family but with the different schools where I studied. It just happened that during my visit to the places, I started clicking the pictures. I wanted to share my memories, experience and the emotions attached to these places,” says Chanana. 

Sharing her feeling and excitement about her debut show the talented teenager says, “It’s an overwhelming experience for me. The thought of exhibiting these pictures made me nervous first, but I believe in me and my photographs, and this keeps me going.” 

Chanana who wants to take up photography as a profession, says that pictures are the only medium which anyone and everyone can understand, there is no discriminatory boundary for that. The avid traveller, she likes the work of Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado who also prefers black and white photography with high grains.