Frozen in Black & White - Femina Anniversary issue 2011

Frozen in Black & White - Femina Anniversary issue 2011

Arjun Rampal - Behind the Scenes of Hello! India Aug 2012

A fashion travelogue:

L’officiel and I have come a long way working together, and we have come up with some really good pieces of art & creativity.

The time when I was approached by the L’officiel Fashion Director - Amy Patel, with the concept of shooting for a fashion brand Louis Vuitton at the Kumbh Mela, I was a bit amazed as well as got afflated with such a blend of modern & traditional worlds.

It took me a li’l while to actually plan out the play of fashion with faith.

We walked out of our Hotel rooms, not knowing what to expect, but to capture the unexpected!

It was also quite a task for model at the shoot – Fiona, to be actually comfortable with the whole environment, which was so different from the regular shoots, amidst hundreds of devotees & strangers! But kudos to her for the performance!

The Mela being such an important occasion for thousands of people over the years had high security, which made it really difficult for us to get the exact place and time for that impeccable shot.

I roamed around with the decked up model and the whole team following us through the lanes of Haridwar from one ghaat to another and stopped wherever I felt we could capture the right mélange of our concept (It seemed funny at that time, but now I guess it was surely worth it).

I did not use any strobes for this shoot. Such as, no artificial light for any of my shots, apart from one which was taken at dusk time and I could really not do without the lights.

Also not to forget the brilliant work done by Amanender Sidhu on the models hair and make-up, who struck the right balance with the aesthetics of Mela and fashion sense.

I guess this is one the most unique experiences I ever had, the taste of this particular shoot will always hold a special place in my memories. 

 Here’s the video to actually take you through my experience…….

                                         

Being Rani

I love the way people have appreciated my initiative to start blogging, which now made me thinking about what my next blog should be on.. so I started digging through my archive and I came across this shoot that I did with Rani Mukhejee for L'officiel India..

(Sigh..!) It was one of my most memorable experiences, my favorite cover shoot..!

Rani is among the most stunning actors, I don't say this because of the personal rapport that I share with her, but because she is as beautiful a person inside as she looks in these pictures, not to mention how much fun it was to work with her.. the whole environment on the shoot becomes so lively and ecstatic with her presence, the whole aura that she carries with herself is something you don't experience everyday!

Talking about the pictures as a photographer, there is not much that one has to do, photographs imperatively become breathtakingly beautiful when shooting with a person like her!

Anyhow the shoot was themed on her itself i.e. "Being Rani" so all that I had to do was capture the quite Diva that resides within her.. and I'm sure you can see that in every picture that was shot..

I have so much to say about the whole experience that I had, but I'd rather let my pictures speak to you..

There is also a beautiful video that I have put together for you to see what went behind the pictures.. enjoy it..!!

Thanks to all the people who played a role in producing this shoot!

Special Thanks to Team - L'officiel India

Dark Romance

Alright.. So, finally my first blog!! (I almost feel like a virgin doing this, I mean.. I’m really excited about it! ;) )

I’ve been planning to start my blog since a long time now but you know how busy one gets at this point in career, nevertheless I am going to make sincere efforts to be regular (How?? I don’t know..)

So, I was initially thinking to start my blog with talking about my life, how I started off and what fashion photography as an industry is, etc. etc. (read blah blah).. which then I thought will be useless for my readers (anyhow I’ll write that when I have nothing better to talk about). So, I decided to talk about things which are fresh in my mind and give a better insight as to what I am up to these days.. Well, it happens to be the most recent editorial that I did “Dark Romance” (Read on..)

The shoot for India’s one of the sect contemporary Arts magazine ‘Platform’ was a very special one for me. I got a chance to work with the same people with whom I started out, and this was like going back home.

Shruti Kapur, the editor at Platform, gives complete freedom to an artist to do whatever they want to do and because of this receptive attitude, it is always easy to communicate the idea to her without getting into much intricacies.

For the Dark Romance, I proposed her that I want to play with the moods of various dance forms with a real dancer and a model to balance the fashion element as well. This concept was completely different and because of its unparalleled nature, Shruti showed no acquiescence and gave me her nod to go ahead right away! So, we started searching for a location which best suited the theme. Firstly my assistant did a recce of the place and showed me.

I did my research on the lighting part and put my thoughts to get the right mood.

I wanted to keep the right balance of art and fashion.

And I am grateful to my entire team members that I was able to achieve what I desired.

After a thorough research on Internet and other sources, We found this small cute theater called ‘Akshara Theater’. Located at the heart of the capital, Connaught Place, which was a perfect location to shape my idea into reality. Now to begin with the shoot, I needed few important persons, a make-up artist, models, a dancer and a stylist. They all were the sustainers of this shoot.

I managed to get a dexterous make-up artist from Mumbai, who is here in India for few months from South Africa. Me and Bianca (the model selected for the shoot and a quick responder to the stuff I tell her) have already worked on several projects before and I find her own perception towards beauty and fashion superb. The stylist, Aaditya, is a cool dude and keeps the ambience fresh and lively. He adroitly handles his department, and as usual, this time also, he sourced magnificent ideas.

Here’s a small video that my team had put together during the shoot, you’ll get a peak into how the ideas were brought to life!

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