ABOUT CALLA
Waking up at three in the morning to shoot 2,000 frames depicting the workers’ faces and postures of a Indian Tea Estate isn’t a haphazard production, but an exercise that requires steadfast planning and meticulous timing. The sun rises precisely at 4:07, burns off the mist shrouding the Darjeeling dawn, and reveals the verdant green tea plantations adorned by hundreds of sari-clad woman filling baskets with tips of the finest tea.
Calla Fleischer understands the unique, requisite marriage between intensive preparation and the creative joy and abandonment of shooting from the hip. An intensely motivated, practical and highly structured individual, she is deliberate and organized in her photographic endeavors. Yet, the essence of her photographic craft is dictated by her tenacious but charming streak to be able to get the shot, no matter what it takes, no matter how long, no matter how difficult the subject or how reluctant the crowd.
Driven by innate curiosity, her domain straddles the faces of the ordinary men and women who inhabit our world and her close family. Her ebullient stamina and smile often swing an unwilling subject into acquiescence, as they somehow recognize that her desire is not just to capture that nanosecond of time, but also to celebrate their exquisite naturalness. Photography is not just an art for her, but a practical materialization of her vision and desire to document the people and events that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Her hunger for adventure propels Calla across the globe. Her work is her never-ending mission to document Indian tiger sanctuaries, African wilderness, Ecuadorian volcanoes, rare Ethiopian tribal ceremonies, teeming Cairo bazaars, European cities and ancient Asian monuments. Calla Fleischer is on a journey to keep shooting, to find the rich in the poor, and to portray the beauty in the ordinary. Photography is Calla’s lifeblood, and nothing brings her more satisfaction than sharing her creations.