Say Western Ghats and one can hardly picture it without a riot of orange, purple and yellow of flowers in bloom, amidst all conceivable shades of green. Under  an overstretched sky of blue. Which is why when we flip through the breath-taking series of photos clicked by environmental photographer Ian Lockwood, we are surprised to note how the ecologically-rich region comes alive even in his black-and-white photographs.

“Although we have such a variety of options for colour photography in today’s day and age, the black-and-white medium, which I primarily work with, has an aesthetic value,” Lockwood says. “It simplifies otherwise complex objects and surroundings, and at the same time, brings out the unique characteristics of a composition.” Lockwood, who has been living in Sri Lanka for 18 years, is a teacher of geography and environmental systems at Overseas School of Colombo, and is coming back to India with a collection of his works to exhibit.