“We take photographs as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone” – Katie Thurmes, The Stories We Tell
The story starts on a rainy August ‘17 way past midnight when the rest of the wold is asleep but life at Great Lakes is just coming alive. As a student, I had a prized possession acquired during my stay on campus inspired by the sights around, a sleek Canon 1200D DSLR camera. I was experimenting on the DSLR camera when my dear buddy, Arvind Soju knocked on my G1H hostel room door (am a Kurunji guy).
Thus, began an interesting discussion about photography and how people find the urge to follow their passion and be a Photographer for life and as a profession. In between, Mohan George, who happened to be my neighbour, also joined in the conversation which ended with the three of us agreeing that, Great Lakes is a great place to kick start a pilot for a Photography venture. It is picturesque and distinct in its nature and there is no doubt about that.
After a month of deliberations and random clicks, it was decided to do a theme-based photoshoot to formally kick-start our joint venture and setup a new Facebook page. Being a true B-school student, the venture had a unique value proposition aka Monochrome Photos. The reason being black and the white brings out the inner beauty and the innate message a photograph wishes to convey; without the audience being dazzled by contrasting extravagant colours. I planned to conduct a photoshoot of monochrome pictures with a hanging storyline by interconnecting 5 photos released on the page across weeks.
To be honest, it was easier said than done. The pilot launch faced a lot of resilience for it was not easy to get people to agree for a themed photoshoot. Some dismissed it as a naïve idea for it was one thing to do casual shots but a different ballgame to emulate the emotions required to make the picture talk.
No venture can be successful by working in a bubble, similar for me. I managed to pull off my dream courtesy few friends who helped me. I would like to extend my special thanks to my classmates Shubhangi Tandon, Anu Sudhahar and Kirubahar Praveen from the PGDM batch for showing faith and collaborating with in us in our first Photoshoot. Arvind and Mohan themselves took on the roles both in front of the camera as well as behind the lens helping in the visualisation of the photographs.
Initially, as a team we failed terribly on numerous occasions in terms of editing gone awry, funny expressions for a serious emotion and blurred photographs to name a few. However, each hiccup only made us more determined to strive further to achieve, what we consider as a cornerstone for our venture, giving people that one perfect picture to relish that moment forever.
Today, a year later I am sitting here in my apartment, having just completed my first Pre-Wedding Shoot assignment in Bengaluru, feeling proud about each step we have taken towards achieving our passion. I would like to think that each of the photoshoots that we did in Great Lakes acted as a stepping stone for something greater and helping me find which style of photography suited me the best. I realised my true calling vested in Portraits that is, capturing that human element in a photograph.
Yes. Folks. That’s Shades of Life for you.
Authored by Harikrishnan Ravikumar Nair (PGPM Class of 2018), Edited and compiled by Neetika Agarwal (PGPM Class of 2019)
