The day before this shoot I was shooting in Pune for a major real estate client. This meant leaving for Mumbai at 5 am the next day to make it in time for the cover shoot for FHM Magazine – in MAY 2022. This is the second time I was shooting an editorial with the amazing Krishna Shroff and the first one, she told me was her best cover ever.
With our sensibilities, experience, and synergy we really tried to raise the bar with this one.
Good things take time and the makeup, hair & styling surely did, which gave me only half a day on hand. Shooting 6 looks in an 8 to 10-hour day is passable but here we are talking about managing the same in about 4 to 5 hours. At this point, it becomes more about managing the shoot as against the creativity and newness which also cannot be compromised. Add to it the limited canvas of a studio where I am tied down by just a few props and plain backgrounds.
Photography is not just about setting up your light and clicking, it never was. I have always felt that getting the shots out of your talent is the real deal and this happens through synergy, rapport building, and on-point directions. Communication is the key. Got a sense of humor? Throw that in for some added ease as it will never disappoint.
I am not someone who plans the shoot too much as I prefer having a lot of latitude for some spontaneity & magic to happen. A quick recce of the studio followed by a rough breakdown of shots came in handy.
Visualization abilities are underrated. I try and see the output in my mind’s eye before using the tools and techniques to bring it down on camera. This gap can be quite detrimental. Over the years I really feel it is the fear of this gap that a lot of artists seldom pick up their tools. If an artist is not on point and if his vision doesn’t translate into something tangible (as he visualised it) – does it make him a bad artist?
I am usually a 1 light person and that is what I did here for most of the looks.
The rest was just about filling in the light with reflectors and cutting unwanted light with cutters.
