Varun Gupta

Varun Gupta is a photographer for the last two decades, a serial entrepreneur and a lover of analogue and alternative photography practices who co-founded the Chennai Photo Biennale and the CPB Foundation, a non-profit organization that is focused on growing the photography community in India and South Asia. Varun serves as a collaborator and advisor to Photo Australia in Melbourne, and the Belfast Photo Festival in the UK and works closely with arts organisations across India. When not at his desk, he can be found in his darkroom experimenting with chemical processes and printmaking.

His alma maters include Light & Life Academy and the College of Wooster, US. In 2006, he founded Travelling Lens - a company that conducted specialised photography workshops and holidays in remote areas of India. In 2010, Varun began work with Art Chennai (a city-wide arts event) to manage their photography exhibitions with a focus on public engagement through which they organised large exhibitions in train stations and beaches in Chennai. Photo Seva is one of his long-term portraiture projects where he travels to make portraits of local communities across India with a large-format camera and B&W film. Varun is based in Chennai, India.

In 2023, Varun helped establish the CPB Lighthouse - a center for photography based in Kotivakkam Chennai which houses his longterm dream project - a large-scale community darkroom. The CPB Darkroom in one year has quickly become a major landmark for the community across India providing workshops and services that allow newer generations of photographers to discover the magic of historical photography practices.