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SHRADDHA KADAKIAWhen Shraddha looked at the Skoda Fabia, she thought the front ofthe car was almost like a face. “It was as if the car was an entitytalking to me.” she says. She says her ability to see the beauty in adesign sets her apart from other automobile photographers.

SHIKHAKHANNAThe little girl, alldolled up, was shot fora friend who wanted acatalogue for a child-ren’s clothing line.Shikha wanted to doaway with normalposes. (Above) Thesestreet children lovedposing for ‘didi’ whileshe was drivingaround town.

PUNITA GUPTAShah Rukh Khan was shooting for Kaun Banega Crorepati whenPunita caught him in the dressing room. While changing from histees to his formal suit, he told Puneeta, “You are the first woman I’mstripping for in my entire career.” Punita said it was her pleasure.

RAMYA REDDY Ramya shot this picture in a village called Britona in Goa. She was workingon a coffee table book. But now, this is one picture from her favourite colle-ction called Goa: Inside and Out. “I was trying to capture the old Goanfeeling — the Portuguese history, the architecture, the old houses, et al.”

CHICKS WHO CLICKIt’s no more seen asjust an alternativecareer. Women arenow getting seriousabout photographyand making a goodliving out of it

by HaimantiMukherjee

FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY

IF I ask you to name the top three fash-ion and glamour photographers in thiscountry, I bet all the names you comeup with will be men’s. Even in a seg-ment which likes to project itself as lib-eral, elite, highly talented, with a pen-chant for the finer things in life, it hastaken a while for women to make amark until recently.

NISHA Kutty, a fash-ion photographer whooperates out of New Yorkand Mumbai, had startedout 10 years back. “Therewere quite a few womenfashion photographerswho started out with me, but there aren’tmany now,” she says. Kutty realised fashionphotography was the obvious choice forher while assisting a few fashion photogra-phers — she knew she could do things bet-ter if only she could understand the equip-ment. Within a few months she had learntthe medium well and started out on herown. “I love fashion because of its verynature — it’s so different from most thingsmundane,” she says. The images are so sur-real. People in fashion and art are a sort of abuffer for reality, says Kutty. “Plus, I get toexpress myself, collaborate with otherartists and get paid at the same time. Whatmore could I ask for?”

LIKEWISE, 24-year-oldANUSHKA Menon,who’s a known name in theindustry today, started outwhen she was 18. Offers arepouring in for this Delhi-based photographer nowthat the medium is all-pervasive. With sev-eral fashion weeks spread all through theyear and innumerable fashion and beautymagazines flooding the market, the timecouldn’t be better for more women to jointhe field. “I remember my first assignment. Ihad to shoot at the restaurant, Big Chill, fora feature on the place and its owners. Then Imoved to fashion magazines ,” Menon says,adding that things were a little difficultwhen she started, but has improved now.“There are people who still don’t under-stand that this is a creative medium. Clientsstill talk more about the budget than theaesthetics — but it’s only a matter of time.Things will only get better and more profes-sional from here on,” she says. Anushkagrew up in Muscat, studied photography atMelbourne, Australia, and then moved toNew Delhi to make a living.

PHOTOGRAPHER Ramya Re-ddy is walking the streets ofChennai in search of the soulfulcolours that bring the southerncity alive. A picture that some-one from that city will recognise

without a caption of ‘Chennai’ attachedto it. At times, she finds it on an over-crowded bus — a row of women occupy-ing the window seats with jasmine flow-ers tied in their hair; at times, at thebuzzing food outlet where the whiff of thespicy rasam hits you forcing you to thinkwhen you had last eaten; or probably at afilm shooting in the outskirts, where shesees southern superstars almost mobbedby their fans, and even the police, whoare there to put up barricades, joiningthe fans to ask for autographs.

Her current assignment is a coffee table book onthis city. The last place she had captured inanother book was Goa. Reddy is one of the manywomen photographers, a rising breed in India, whoare not just nurturing their talent, but making aliving out of it, and quite successfully at that. “Ihad taken up photography as a hobby, but aftercompleting my graduation in business manage-ment, I knew I wanted something different formyself as a career choice. Since I was interested inthis medium, I enrolled myself at Light & LifeAcademy (the first professional photography insti-tute in India) in Ooty. Once there, she met many ofher kind and got the confidence to take, what mostpeople even today think, is an alternative careerthat’s good for people with enough cash to pursueit as a hobby. Today, she is one of the most sought-after fine art photographers of the country. It is inthis college that Reddy came across ShraddhaKadakia from Mumbai.

Kadakia defied tradition when she told her par-ents she wanted to take up photography as a careerchoice. Initially resistant, her parents today are herstrongest support as she runs her three-year-oldcompany, Just Click. “Business is in my blood.There are only two principles every business standson: First is to have a cost-efficient idea, and the sec-ond is to make a profit out of it,” says Kadakia. Herfather gives her financial advice whenever she seeksit, and her mother makes sure she and her col-leagues at her studio have enough to drink and eatwhen they are working on assignments throughoutthe night to meet crazy deadlines.

B EGINNING her career with ad campaignsand publicity stills, Kadakia today hasfound her niche in automobile photogra-phy. “I think women look at automobiles

very differently. I have always been fascinated bymoving objects and I thought if I could capture whatI saw in them, I could satisfy mycreative instincts as well as makemoney out of it,” she says.

After campaigns with SkodaLaura, Maruti Dzire and Bajajbikes, which earned her the trustof prestigious clients and estab-lished her as one of the few in herchosen field, she is today muchmore confident of her art. “When Iwas working on the Skoda Lauracampaign, the first thing thatstruck me was the car’s beauty. I

highlighted the contours so that the carreally stood out in the pictures I took.The client was very happy.” Likewise,during her Bajaj bike project, the anglesshe looked for were very different fromhow a man would view a bike. “Men lookfor thrill, speed and action, while mostwomen find thrill in the biker’s ability tomanoeuvre the bike in a difficult terrain.So, in my pictures I have captured thedrama of a biker negotiating his turns, andvrooming out of a mud puddle like a win-

ner crossing the finishing line at a race.” Based out of Delhi, Shikha Khanna,

who specialises in children’s photogra-phy, finds her medium as exciting asshe did when she started out 10 yearsback. Even in an age when it’s glam-our photography that hogs the lime-light, and new photography technolo-gies make every second person anaspiring photographer, she staysfocused on children as her subject andearns her good money out of it. “Noth-

ing could have taught me more aboutlife than working with children,” saysKhanna. She has worked with childrenfrom all walks of life — affluent kids,street children, Tsunami-hit ones whowere adopted by schools. “Anothertrend that has caught on the fancy ofpeople in the last decade is family por-traits — and more and more people aregetting professional photographers tocapture moments and times in theirlives they would always cherish and

like to remember,” says Khanna. Butchildren as a subject still remain hermain focus.

“While dealing with children, onecan’t depend on just talent and expert-ise,” Khanna explains, adding thateach child has a different and distinctpersonality. Unless a photographer’speople skills are very high, she won’tbe successful as a children’s photogra-pher. “You have to know how to handlethem and be sensitive too,” she says.

She recalls one instance when shewent for a shoot of a class of specialchildren and the teacher began byintroducing them by their distinct dis-advantages. “I asked her to just namethem,” she says. And when an eight-year-old brat refused to listen to herand went about his bratish ways, shechallenged the kid. “I took the sparetyre out of my car and asked if he couldbalance on it. He immediately gotexcited and started playing with the

tyre, and I got my shot.” Punita Gupta, a Mumbai-based pro-

fessional photographer working in thefilm and television industry, spends hertime clicking stars for publicity stillsfor films and ad campaigns. “A lot haschanged since I started. There are farmore films being made and even thetelevision industry has grown by leapsand bounds,” she says. Gupta hasworked for the publicity stills of Jha-lak Dikhla Ja, Kaun Banega Crorepati

and film posters of Phoonk amongother projects. “At times a specialshoot is arranged, but sometimes wehave to do it during the shooting forthe publicity stills of a film. But what Ilike most is that even after working onthe layout of the film with the directorand producer, they give me enoughfreedom to work on the theme andpresent it the way I feel will convey anidea visually, making the maximumimpact,” says Gupta.

Brought together by the love of thevisual medium, these women have,however, developed expertise in theirchosen areas and distinctive styles. Butthere is still more ground to cover, moreangles to be discovered and much moreto see and capture within a frame. Andthey are raring to click. Like Kadakiasays, “I’m waiting for the day I get totake a shot of a plane flying high or atrain moving at the highest speed.”

haimanti.mukherjee@mailtoday.in