Picture preview: Wanderlust by Rohit Chawla

A new exhibition by Rohit Chawla opens at the Strand Gallery on Monday. Wanderlust is a collection of images taken by Chawla when she was living among the Rabari nomads from Gujarat.

“Far removed from the flamboyance and exaggerated showmanship of fashion performances on catwalks across the world, I found the natural spontaneous style of the Rabaris to be more beguiling and enticing to a somewhat jaded, fashion photographer’s eyes," Chawla says.

"I have tried to place them in isolation of their surroundings, and treated them like fashion portraits, in an attempt to give the pictures a contemporary sensibility. The effort being, to capture their natural intensity in an otherwise alien make shift studio set-up in an unforgiving desert."

A leading contemporary photographer, Chawla started his career and spent close to two decades in advertising at JWT before eventually moving out to start his own design and film production company.

Click here or on "View Gallery" for a picture preview

Wanderlust by Rohit Chawla is at The Strand Gallery, Monday 9-15 July, www.thestrandgallery.co.uk