My photography career commenced with clicking passport size pictures when I was in school. My father is also a photographer and we own a studio. I used to help my dad with this kind of small work and that turned out to be my passion.
My father is my biggest support in where I am right now. He struggled a lot to be a photographer, as it wasn’t easy to pursue it back in those times. He lived in a village called Palanpur and there was a cricket match where all the celebrity cricket players were invited to play including Sachin Tendulkar & Sunil Gavaskar. He entered the stadium as an acting photographer (as it was the only way) but surprisingly people loved the pictures very much and a lot of prints were sold in the town. After that incident, his journey as a photographer began. Soon, he moved to Ahmedabad and opened his own studio.
I grew up watching him, with a camera in his hand, clicking those beautiful pictures and somehow I felt very connected to it. As much as I enjoyed being behind the camera, I enjoyed being in front of it too. After my graduation, I took more interest in shooting weddings. I started working with my father’s friends and put my efforts into bringing new ideas. After doing a few weddings, I made more connections with younger photographers and the wedding photography communities around the city.
I have learned a lot about the new technologies through youtube and that can be called my second teacher. I was lucky enough to have different gadgets around me, to practice with. But today’s world demands more technologies and better gadgets. Slowly when I started making my own money, I started investing in new equipment.
During my learning days, I was a part of a big wedding and captured a few candid photographs. My father didn’t like them and refused to send them to the client but after I insisted a lot he included those pictures too. To his surprise, they loved one of those pictures so much that they gave us even more money than promised. I felt so good that day and my father also bought a chair right next to him in the studio as he was so proud of me watching that was priceless.
Wedding photography as a business is a roller coaster ride. It will surely make a business person come out as an artist. From making a budget to build a team to make sure the deliverables are on time, you will learn it all. I got different opportunities to pursue my photography further in different countries but the weddings we have in India cannot be compared to any other country. I love it here.
We came across so many different kinds of clients, there was one wedding where we were so thrilled to go as the couple were very enthusiastic about it but during the wedding everything was opposite, they were not really in the good mood due to family pressure and were not able to devote time for photographers. This is a very common kind of situation we have to deal with and communication is very important here as a little communication can get you a little more time to shoot and even if it’s not possible at least the client know that you tried your best and they will not blame you for it during the final deliverables.
These 6 years in this industry have helped me so much in growing. Of Course, my father has been the biggest mentor in this journey but photography is a skill you have to grow by yourself through constant practice and consistency. You will not get 20 orders a month in the beginning, it will take a lot of experience, participation in community discussions, contacts, and exceptional work to reach that level.
- Adil Khan
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