Few people in the Commonwealth Countries do not have at least a passing interest in the British Raj.  For nostalgics – and arguably even for realists – the Raj brings visions of grandeur and a sense of pelf at its zenith.

A set of images from that bygone age are available at the Royal Ontario Museum clear through to January 2014.  Between Princely India & the British Raj: The Photography of Raja Deen Dayal is an exhibition of 100-plus photographs taken when India was that figurative ‘jewel’ in Queen Victoria’s crown (and possibly the literal ‘jewel’ in her commonwealth) – which means we’re talking about photographs taken in the late Nineteenth Century by a man who was far removed from the centres of what was then an infant science.

Even discounting the disadvantages Dayal would have faced, some of his work truly deserves the superlative, “stunning,” used by both, the museum’s senior curator as well as the sponsor’s artistic director.  These photographs reveal that the man behind the camera had an eye not only for composition and lighting, but also for documentary ‘street shooting’ that was ahead of its time, and also possessed considerable technical knowledge.

The museum’s website shows only five images, one of them a portrait of Dayal.  The very next photo, The North Gate, is a delight of lighting (note the rich texture) and composition that strikes a perfect balance.  The Elephant Procession is a documentary photograph taken from an optimal (or near-optimal) angle of elevation with (obvious) leading lines.  This is not only photojournalism before there was any such thing; Dayal fortuitously captured an ‘atmospheric’ image: the haze of dust thrown up by the elephants’ feet brings this image to life.

The third photograph, Monkeys on a Temple Wall, is a touch over-focussed (leave alone auto-focussing, Dayal did not have the luxury of even TTL focussing!) but is a fine example of a keen eye: give due credit to the man for capturing monkeys who look like they’re in silent contemplation on a temple plinth!  As for the fourth photograph of Bashir Bagh Palace, exposing an interior so perfectly in 1888 is a feat in and of itself.  This photograph also has an excellent sense of space and depth, and good balance in a ‘busy’ image as no one object or element dominates the interior. 

A few more photographs are available on other pages and sites.

Anyone who is both a Raj and Photography buff may be interested to know that Dayal’s images are available in a new coffee-table book, Raja Deen Dayal: Artist-Photographer in 19th-century India.