Virtual Photoshoots

A room and a bed that corners a wall full of posters. Akansha and I brainstormed quite a bit to come up with a concept, but the dried Roses and blindfold conjured an image of passion, desire, and darkness. I resisted my urge to shoot hundreds of images, as was the case with every other shoot in this category, and I loved how the images turned out to be. Due to the quality of the virtual video call, it did take a bit of post-processing to get the desired results. It was a wonderful shoot, and I thank Akansha for being such a supportive collaborator. For someone who started to lose himself during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, these virtual shoots gave him a chance to piece things together and find sanity.

This was a virtual shoot with Kanika, my dear friend Diksha’s sister. Like the case with Ashwani, Kanika too had just a sunlit window and an overseeing balcony for the shoot. I wanted to keep it simple and let Kanika take control of how she wanted to emote. We took two sets of pictures, one in Black and White, and another in colour (I just couldn’t resist how the sun lit up those frames and highlighted that gorgeous black saree and necklace). This was one of the first shoots in which I started to experiment with superimposition. I thank Kanika for being such a wonderful collaborator, and Diksha, for setting this up and for helping her sister with the camera.

Except for a beautiful sunlit window overseeing a narrow balcony — and those gorgeous blue curtains that filtered through sunlight to add a nice blue tint — there weren’t too many things to work with in this shoot. And yet, if you see even an ounce of honest expression in them, it’s because of Ashwani’s passion for the art and to explore herself and the worldaround her through art. Kudos to her for how she found ways to mount the mobile camera. It’s definitely easier to work with someone who also likes to feel freeze moments in time. And cats! Keanu and Katti were wonderful supporting cast in this shoot. I am eternally grateful to Ashwani.

For days ahead of the shoot, the model and I would engage in discussions on the locations that are available in their premises to do the shoot, how the light falls on the chosen locations, the ideal time of the day of the shoot, the several props that can be used to tell a story, logistical difficulties if any and how we can solve them, and finally, the story that could be told within the decided parameters and logistics.And I loved this shoot with Sri because even though there weren’t too many locations we could use in her London apartment — and a sunlit window — and not much room to improvise, something just clicked and all it took was a coffee cup, her yellow sweatshirt, and her free hair, to paint such a warm portrait of a relaxing evening. As a photographer, I couldn’t ask for a more liberating experience, especially during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. I thank Sri for being such a supportive collaborator. Menu Home Photography Wildlife​ Portrait Streets Virtual Photoshoots Abstract Event Journalism Movie Reviews Cinema Interviews Cinema Features Other Features Video Interviews Photo Journalism Artwork Short Stories Poetry Musings தமிழ் Paintings Podcasts

Aarthi and I created unique photos by focusing a camera on a mobile screen during a video call, using props like tanpuras, sarees, plants, and books