K.G. Somashekar (79), renowned portrait photographer, died of pneumonia here on Sunday evening. He is survived by his wife, Pushpa Kampli, son Trilochan and daughter Kanchanamala.

Mr. Somashekar, who never believed in digital photography, had a vast collection of portraits to his credit. “His dream was to build the largest digital library with his black and white portraits, and he was in the process of documenting his mammoth 1,300 portraits of personalities, which included artists, authors, musicians, and scientists,” Mr. Trilochan said.

Mr. Somashekar had 130 photographs of Hindustani vocalist Mallikarjun Mansur and had also shot literary greats such as Kuvempu, Masti Venkatesh Iyengar and D.V. Gundappa.

Born in 1937 in Davangere and brought up in Hirekerur in Dharwad district, Mr. Somashekar came to Bengaluru when he was nine. He worked in Mumbai in the late 1960s along with artist K.K. Hebbar. He did not believe in taking photos of politicians, sportspersons and film stars, although Indira Gandhi, Prakash Padukone and D. Devaraj Urs were exceptions in his collection.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Ranjani Govind / Bengaluru – December 05th, 2016