It takes a balancing act to look graceful while riding a broomstick, unless you’re a world-class Quidditch player. But a new photo project featuring kids from the Garhwali village of Kalap in Uttarakhand, makes it look like child’s play. Anshu Agarwal, a freelance photographer and teacher in Kalap, rounded up the village children to create magical frames straight out of the Harry Potter series.
Agarwal had screened the Harry Potter films to improve their English, and like most of the movies’ audiences, the children wanted to channel their inner witches and wizards. He drew on his previous work with levitation photography, a technique that makes subjects of a photograph look like they are floating. Over two months at the turn of 2016, quidditch matches were recreated in Kalap, complete with goalposts and bats. A volleyball stood in for a quaffle. Agarwal asked the kids to stand on a wooden bench with a broomstick between their legs, and jump—and then Photoshopped the bench out of the frame. The result is heartwarming for bringing together two images that we are so familiar with—the breathtaking snow-clad peaks of Garhwal, and quidditch players zooming around on their broomsticks.
Quidditch is a wizarding sport played on broomsticks. Here, a child reaches for the golden snitch, which could make his team win. Photo: Anshu Agarwal
We wouldn’t want a face-off with this fierce team. Photo: Anshu Agarwal
These kids in Kalap are living out every Harry Potter fan’s dream. Photo: Anshu Agarwal
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