We present the UBVR _ { c } I _ { c } broad band optical photometry of the Type Ic supernova SN 2002ap obtained during 2002 February 06 – March 23 in the early decline phases and also later on 2002 15 August .
Combining these data with the published ones , the general light curve development is studied .
The time and luminosity of the peak brightness and the peak width are estimated .
There is a flattening in the optical light curve about 30 days after the B maximum .
The flux decline rates before flattening are 0.127 \pm 0.005 , 0.082 \pm 0.001 , 0.074 \pm 0.001 , 0.062 \pm 0.001 and 0.040 \pm 0.001 mag day ^ { -1 } in U , B , V , R _ { c } and I _ { c } passbands respectively , while the corresponding values after flattening are about 0.02 mag day ^ { -1 } in all the passbands .
The maximum brightness of SN 2002ap M _ { V } = -17.2 mag , is comparable to that of the type Ic 1997ef , but fainter than that of the type Ic hypernova SN 1998bw .
The peak luminosity indicates an ejection of \sim 0.06 M _ { \odot } ^ { 56 } Ni mass .

We also present low-resolution optical spectra obtained during the early phases .
The SiII absorption minimum indicates that the photospheric velocity decreased from \sim 21,360 km s ^ { -1 } to \sim 10,740 km s ^ { -1 } during a period of \sim 6 days .