In the seventh standard, a shy and intelligent boy filled the other side of my school bench. Over time, our friendship grew, and those school breaks would get so boring without that person calling out ‘Aey Purva bhai’ from the other side of the bench. I would match his call with an ‘Aey Shikhar bhai’ instantly, and gradually our bond got stronger. Fate separated us after the seventh standard, but soon our paths led us to meet again in the 12th standard, and we’ve been together ever since.
Ever since I was a child, I have loved films and have been fascinated by the drama in films. My love for films and frames somehow led me to the world of photography, and I got interested in clicking photographs. Soon, I found my niche of clicking portraits while doing a baby photo shoot of my nephew. I used to take my camera on every trip where my friends would encourage me to click their portraits. On the other hand, Shikhar bought his first camera during his second year of college. Like I was obsessed with portraits, Shikhar was a hard and fast street photographer when he started clicking pictures. His vision to click an aesthetic photo inspired me tremendously, and we finally decided to work together as photographers.
Shikhar started doing wedding photography as a freelancer and fell in love with the vibe surrounding the happy occasion. He loves positivity and happiness around him and loves clicking pictures of people genuinely smiling. I joined Shikhar in his journey of doing wedding photography and loved it. Documenting the raw emotions was extremely fulfilling for us. So in January 2019, we started our company, Dramaa and chose a Parrot for our logo because who could be more dramatic? We started with a motto to click lively and vibrant pictures.
Some parents can be doubtful when you chase your dreams, but there are people whose parents encourage them to chase after their dreams and our parents have always been super cool about choosing photography.
After working with Shikhar for a while, I saw how our intrinsic qualities blend in perfectly when working on a grandeur event like a wedding. Shikhar is a shy introvert, while I am more outgoing. His ability to absorb everything around him and convert them into art is astounding. On the other hand, I can befriend people quite easily, and this skill helps in a genre like wedding photography. We’ve been lucky and blessed to get clients who understand the value of photographers. Respect matters a lot, when we meet our clients, what we admire the most is their respect for our craft. For a long time in masses, the community of wedding photographers have been limited to 'bhaiya ek photo khich do' but this has changed today. With it being treated as an art form and a wilfully sought profession, photographers are able to command the attention and respect they deserve.
In these three years of our journey as wedding photographers, we’ve met a few clients who’ve stuck with us throughout. They admire our work and have even referred us to their friends and family. During the lockdown, when we all had very limited work in our hands, one of our clients turned friends stood beside us and encouraged us not to give up. It fills my heart with joy when I look back and think about all the amazing people we’ve met.
We enjoy doing weddings even though sometimes it can get a bit hectic. I remember one wedding where things got a bit out of hand. We provided live edited pictures to our clients, which they loved. Only our live editor got Covid, and we did not have anyone to fill his shoes. This was a moment when our understanding and sync helped us a lot. We interchanged places multiple times to edit pictures while taking photographs and successfully provided all the live edited pictures to our client. I would always remember that day as it shows that we truly complete each other.
Shikhar and I decided not to take too many projects at once. We saw that the artist inside us would not function if we overburdened ourselves with many projects. Apart from that, Shikhar and I decided not to do photography for our livelihood but to feed our artistic side. We believe that everyone should add some form of art to their lives. Doing something creative will help them escape from the rigidities of life and find solace. Although we take fewer projects, we give our heart and soul to every project. We never compromise and deliver work only when we are satisfied with it. We hope that photographers everywhere can forget about the commercial side of photography and free the suppressed artistic side in them for a while.
- Shikhar & Purva
Follow Dramaa by Shikhar & Purva on Instagram:Â https://www.instagram.com/dramaabyshikharandpurva/
Editor: Harshita Sharma
Written by: Sauvik Chatterjee
