Driven by this adage – in late 2017 I decided to take the plunge. Over 20 years of steady career in institutional business spanning sectors ranging from healthcare to financial services – spent strategizing business development activities, making presentations, analyzing and presenting business data, and developing relationships across cultures and geographies on behalf of my employers had come to a crossroad.
The choice was only one. To pursue happiness.
How was the question?
All the time spent in traveling, meeting people, seeing places, building bridges across cultures, food, festivals, languages and the sheer diversity of it all was simply enchanting. And so was born the pursuit of connecting the dots using the camera.
The camera and its ability to freeze a moment in time had fascinated me all along. To hear the sound of shutter release and then be able to print that moment on paper sounded (and still does) nothing less than magic. It is the time machine you never recognized.
How interesting would it be to combine this ability, this interest with business communication…and lo we have the answer – commercial photography.
The next few years were spent in acquiring the skills in understanding natural and studio lighting, color, texture, shapes and broader subjects like food and product styling from some of the finest teachers and professionals in the industry. I learnt under the guidance of Mohammed Iqbal, Mihir Hardikar and Shantonobho Das at Light and Life Academy and later under noted independent visual story teller and educator Abir Abdullah.
Apart from coursework, I took up personal projects in documentary photography working closely with the Kotas of The Nilgiris to document how technology was changing their lives, customs and traditions. This continues to be a long term project and is ongoing.
And so has begun a new journey – promising new challenges, new directions full of hopes that the visuals I create will tell stories that impact the audience for the brands I work for.