7 of these images got published as a photo essay in the Sunday Guardian this week. The article had a short description and I’ll let the pictures do the talking :).

The photo essay can be seen here – [jpg doublespread], [pdf] . A ‘very low res pics’ version of the article is online as well.

The entire album (38 images) can be seen on my Facebook page.

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The new photographers

Candid wedding photography is now the norm for that special day, says Akshita Nahar.

The traditional wedding album: a parade of pearly white smiles, uptight family portraits, and the odd, awkward couple shot. Your parents or grandparents may tell you they were bullied into these uncomfortable poses by the “studiowalas”. But, in recent years, wedding photography has taken a turn for the photojournalistic, with increasingly “natural” pictures, action shots and fly-onthe-wall images.

So what is exactly is candid wedding photography? The photographers who practise this genre will tell you that it’s a more realistic record of the wedding ceremony than stagey studio shots. Sephi Bergerson, an Israeli photographer living in India, said candid photography “is basically capturing the moment or documenting the wedding as it really was,” without interrupting the ceremony. Bergerson’s book, The Great Indian Wedding which will be out next year, captures traditions from Sikh, Hindu, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian weddings from regions as diverse as Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Hyderbad and Kashmir.

Bergerson comes from a documentary background, and his transition to wedding photography may not have been a quantum leap. But other candid photographers are bringing a fresh eye to the field from different professions: architect Richa Kashelkar, psychologist Shreya Sen, and computer science engineer Priyanka Sachar for example. Explained Sachar, who left her job of eight years, “[Wedding photography] allows me to travel to different places, see new cultures and capture the emotions and real scenarios that people experience – of happiness, sadness and relief.”

As outsiders, these photographers are able to capture weddings in less formal ways. “The problem with traditional wedding photographers,”said Sen, “is that they make clients pose in a manner which, apart from being outdated, does not feel natural. Clients want images that are true to their own personality and more fun than contrived. The younger generation, growing up in a ‘shoot and share’ world, are leaning more towards images that carry the story of their wedding day… and at the same time look cool, fun and a lot more relaxed.” And while the older generation might still insist on pictures of each and every handshake with the happy couple, most candid photographers recommend they hire a studio photographer for that sort of documentation.

At their engagement, Manita and Tanuj Kapoor had a bad experience with a studio photographer who made them “pose and hold the pose”, as Manita put it. So for their wedding, they hired candid photographer William Chang. “It’s a bit difficult to explain to [our parents] that we don’t want these [posed] kinds of photographs, because that’s what they’ve known,” said Manita. So as a compromise, the parents roped in a studio photographer as well.

Neal Karthik, a travel and lifestyle photographer who runs a “shadi” side business said “It’s all about time travel. When you look back at the photographs, 20 to 30 years later, you don’t want fake shots, or realise that someone has not captured an important [memory].” The cost of capturing a memory is fairly steep – from `50,000 per day. Kashelkar justified the cost: “You might wear expensive dresses, but no one will see your priceless expressions if the photographer doesn’t do his job well.”

The trend of candid wedding photography began in the West and has been around for at least a decade,but has caught on here in the last few years, accelerated by social media and the Internet. There, as here, candid photographers are also called upon to capture engagements, bridals shoots, even proposals. “These shoots show the whacky side of the couple,” said Anup Joseph Kattukaran (he goes by Anup J Kat, or “Kat” to friends). “The side which you rarely get to see at a wedding because everyone is all prim and proper.” Kat’s portfolios include anything from underwater kissing shots of a couple in all their wedding finery, to a bride’s gown cheekily flying up as she rides off with her husband on a bike.

Perhaps 22-year-old Priyam Malhotra’s pictures come closer to natural. Malhotra told us his age is an advantage – couples sometimes introduce him to their family as a friend rather than a photographer, to allow the candid camera an unrestricted view. “Sometimes the ladies are shy because I’m a guy, but  considering my age, they see me as a kid and get comfortable,” Malhotra said. Some of his best pictures are of women applying make-up, pinning saris and giggling before the serious ceremony.

While these photographers claim to be making a break from posed photographs, the fact is that even “candid” wedding photography is susceptible to fakery. In a way, the “natural” aesthetic could be seen as a byproduct of the look and feel of reality TV. These shaadi shots also often play up the romantic side of weddings (as opposed to the solemn union of two families captured by studio photographs) – quite possibly a reflection of the changing nature of Indian marriages. Whatever the reason, though, candid wedding photography is catching on faster than you can say cheese.

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There are 9 teams comprising of experts in genres which are: music, Bollywood, fashion, art, photography, cricket, food, technology, magic. These chosen participants would be accompanied by a multimedia team to discover and share interesting tid-bits as web episodes jointly developed by the team. I have been chosen as the participant under the ‘photography’ category. Accompanying me on this drive would be Suruchi – a filmmaker from NID. I have come up with the name “Shutterspeeders” for our team :).

As some of you on twitter might have guessed by my tweets, my chosen destination is Amritsar and I would like to see the ‘Change of guard’ at the Wagah border. I have wanted to go there since a long time, but never did due to a full time job and then later due to shoot schedules. Well, now is the time to strike off this to-do from the bucket list. I am hoping that the ‘change of guard’ on 15th August would be even more magnificent than usual and that I would be able to view it right from where it happens . I wish there had been some way to meet our Pakistani twitter counterparts right there, but sadly it is not possible. All we can do is “wave” at each other if at all. The journey would start from Gurgaon. I plan to visit Bhangarh – a place popular as a “haunted spot”, Panipat, Chandigarh and eventually reach Amritsar. My initial plan included visiting McLeodGanj but I cancelled it due to the cloud burst at Manali, the long distance between Amritsar and McLeodGanj which would have to be negotiated on hilly roads and not flat highways, slippery roads due to expected rain, potential danger of landslides etc. I had done a lot of research on various locations for a road trip, but most got ruled out due to the weather not being right for visiting those places. But now I do have a repository of places I would like to visit.

As part of the drive, we were briefed by Ford India on driving safety and other aspects of the exercise. We also got to meet all the other participants in various categories. The route and the tentative stories were discussed jointly with the influencers and the multimedia teams. The flag off would be happening at various locations of the participants. In my case that location would be Gurgaon.

Along the route, certain parts of the drive/ “Classic Story” may be crowdsourced from the people following the drive – that could be YOU! And you may have a role in shaping up my journey and also assisting me in certain tasks – for eg. suggesting places for a pit stop, or suggesting viable routes etc.

In order to shape up the Classic story I would be generating a lot of photography/video content. My endeavour (no pun intended Ford India!) would be to share salient features of the road trip and make it engaging, fun and most worthy for the viewers. There might be a contest thrown in too, if time & logistics permit!
There may be select offline meet-ups along the route as well. In order to do all this I’ve been provided with an iPad (for keeps). A 3G connection has been taken by me in order to maximise the utilisation of the iPad along the way.

The purpose of this post is not just to talk about my road trip but also my perspective on being part of an event like this. My plan is to share interesting trivia about my trip, without spamming ppl’s timeline. The hashtag for the event is #1tankfull but I am NOT planning to use it for every single tweet I write. There would be some updates about the road trip with the hashtag and there would also be some of the stuff (sans hashtag) that I usually write when I travel anywhere. As a matter of fact most of the times I travel anywhere I use a personal hashtag for my travel tweets so as to collate all of them later. For the record, this is NOT a contest or a paid event. There are no prizes for anything & there is no expected tweeting frequency from Ford – which was one of the first & most important things I confirmed before responding in the affirmative to their invite a month back. Here’s hoping for clear skies, pretty locales & interesting experiences. I hope you would enjoy “virtual traveling” with me as much as I would on road. Go Shutterspeeders!

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Wedding shutterbugs by Bula Devi

There is a flurry of activity in the room. At one end, a young woman is sitting in front of a brightly-lit mirror with four other women fussing over her. One is applying the makeup, another is doing her hair, yet another is laying out the clothes and jewellery that she will presently don. Every few minutes there’s someone coming into the room, slowly filling it with sweets, chocolates, flowers… This scene is unfolding in the bride’s dressing room, which is the nerve centre of all the pre-wedding preparations. But wait, amidst all the action, there’s one woman, hard at work. She’s the official wedding photographer, entrusted with capturing the buzz, the fun and the tender moments that make up the big fat Indian wedding.

The male dominance in the world of professional photography is diminishing, thanks to a growing clan of women professionals who specialise in candid wedding photography.

Women wedding photographers are natural partners for brides, who sometimes feel shy, awkward, and at times even embarrassed while posing for male shutterbugs. The women photographers also bond easily with family members and get complete access to the bride’s dressing room and other areas of the marriage venue so that they can unobtrusively immortalise on film all the landmark moments of the big day.

Most women, who make up this select group, come from professional backgrounds ranging from graphic designers to computer engineers. They have chosen to give up their stable, well-paid jobs to pursue their passion. Take Rakhee Yadav, 40, who is now based in the Netherlands. After working as a graphic designer for almost two decades, this mother of a six-year-old daughter is now freeze framing the true essence of an Indian wedding which she considers “so colourful, vibrant and full of emotions”.

Yadav took up wedding photography because “marriage is the most important day in a person’s life”. She prefers to employ a documentary style while she shoots. “There is so much emotion when it comes to Indian weddings. This is one occasion when not just the immediate family but distant relatives also come under one roof, something that is rare everywhere else in the world. It is not just the emotions of the big day, even the build up to it is momentous,” she elaborates.

An avid traveller, Yadav, who is currently in India, likes to document every small incident and activity leading up to the wedding day: The dinner mess left from the night before, the mother directing the domestic help; the bride speaking to a friend on her mobile phone as she is being dressed by two other women; the father rushing around to complete one of the million chores that just have to be done.

Like Yadav, Priyanka Sachar, a computer engineer based in Gurgaon, has switched careers recently. She was looking for a way to escape her nine-to-five routine so she left her secure job in 2009 and took up photography full-time. Sachar decided to take the plunge because she was sure of her talent – she had spent hours taking pictures as an amateur, quite a few of which had been sold at exhibitions.

In the last year-and-a-half, Sachar, who sees her photographs as “fine art”, has already travelled across the country to shoot weddings. “The marriage season, from October to February, is crazy, “she says.

Sachar takes niche, arty pictures that convey an array of emotions, from nervousness to excitement to laughter. “No ‘sanitised’ group shots on stage for me; those are done by studio photographers,” she says. Incidentally, according to Sachar, studio photographers are often very curious when they spot a woman photographer around, and many assume that “we may be there because of the leverage and accessibility that we have, vis-à-vis the family”.

For Hyderabad-based wedding photographer Madhavi Kuram, too, posed pictures are out – precisely because, like Sachar, she believes those kinds of pictures can be taken by any studio photographer. According to Kuram, who lived and worked in the United States as an IT professional for 13 years these days it has become easier for women to take up photography as a viable career because they enjoy greater freedom of choice. (WFS)

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Since my twitter id is @twilightfairy, they wanted me to wear a gown & wings, hold a wand etc and basically portray the id. I wasn’t so sure of the idea and initially I vetoed it completely and told them that I would rather have them take a simple picture because a “fantasy” shoot with such props would need a proper make up artist and stylist etc who would be able to make sure that it all comes together beautifully. Since I would be in front of the camera and not behind it in this case, I would have no idea what’s going on. There was also the problem of props. They were supposed to get the other props but they couldn’t have done so for the gown bit .. it had to be something long and flowy to give that feeling. Eventually with no time left and no options left either, I decided to use the next best option. I washed my hair, conditioned it, disentangled it, combed it, serum-ed it and what not in order to be spread around me, the length not being an issue The other thing I did was – put on some eye makeup (read blue kohl & black liner) and I was good to go. The photographer Narendra Bisht & I had had a discussion about the shoot and the obvious conclusion was that it should be some time in the evening which gives that “twilight” feel (For the record my id has nothing to do with the vampire series – it is all about that time of day). It had to be a green sort of place with lot of trees and the best location for that was Leisure Valley park in Sec 29, Gurgaon.

off for a shoot. in front of the camera this time. fotu to appear soon in a mag :p
@twilightfairy

So we turned up there. I found a nice “jhurmut” (pic above) at Leisure valley park and we decided “this was it”. There was no wand but Narendra had managed to get the wings from some place in Chandni Chowk after much research. All the ones he initially found had been very tiny in size (meant for school girls). Then he found this shop that had theatre costumes and stuff. Back to action. Wore the wings. Felt a bit silly. Spread the hair around self & then the toughest part – followed the directions of “another” photographer :p. But it was good that he was open minded, had some shots in mind & took some suggestions. I saw the shots in between, saw what worked, what didn’t and tweaked it. During all this while, obviously The Great Indian Tamasha had launched itself in our background with people watching & commenting. It was most disconcerting, but I just shut them out. In some cases when guys would walk by too close staring with their neck twisting at 180 degrees, I had to be brusque with them & asked them to move on with their business. One of them walked into a tree during a similar pursuit and much hilarity ensued. Eventually our audience got bored and left. Plus it was getting dark. During the time I was supposed to hold my phone in my hands and take some shots, I quickly tweeted

Shoot in progress. Some nincompoops watching. Good hair day becoming bad hair day
@twilightfairy

Cutting to the chase, here’s the Outlook Cover and you can read the article here. I have 3 images in the magazine overall (which I’ll probably add later separately after getting them from the photographer). One on the cover, one on the index page (which talks abt the cover story) and one in the cover story. Triple bonanza :D. Here’s an excerpt.

Blogging also helped Priyanka Sachar @twilightfairy increase her tweet-worth. Priyanka passed up eleven-and-a-half years as a computer engineer to become a fine art wedding photographer, and regularly tweets links to her work. She hardly blogs now, having “lost patience with lengthy posts”, and can’t say enough about the mercurial nature of Twitter, though her strike rate of 70-plus tweets on a good day says enough.

Though I have been on the cover of Telegraph India’s “Graphiti” mag also, as part of a wedding photographers cover story with 2 others, this was an entirely different thing altogether. Outlook mag is a bigger deal :).

Next in line – hopefully a cover image shot by me.

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Vasundhara & Chetan were two strangers, separately visiting “Passion my cup of tea” in Saket, Delhi at the same time. It’s a small little cosy place next to a forest department nursery thus making the surrounding environment absolutely lush green and delightful. While sipping on their respective teas at their respective tables, they heard a Bob Dylan song that they both liked and started humming it. Their eyes & smiles met and the rest as they say is history. They realised their love for travel and traveled to many places together, sometimes impromptu. The full moon has a special place in their life & they got married on “Sharad Poornima” (Harvest moon) on 11th October, 2011. If one were to watch a film with this storyline, one would brush it aside with a “This never happens in real life” reaction. But real life, as they say is sometimes stranger than fiction.

Vasundhara has a Punjabi Army officer father & a Bengali mother who have a base in Delhi as well as Dehradun. Her brother is married to a Japanese woman and they have a cute son – Ruou. Chetan is a Punjabi and his family resides in Shimla while he works in Australia. Their engagement function was held in Delhi and the other functions were held at Dehradun at Vasundhara’s delightful house with a sprawling driveway and lawn. The decoration was very simple and done by all the family members. The rituals were a mix of Punjabi and Bengali traditions and it was a most colourful affair. Apart from the functions I also did a “couple portraiture shoot” for Vasundhara & Chetan at “Passion my cup of tea” as well as Tons river, Dehradun.
This is an attempt to recreate the magic of love over pots of tea.

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“Marrying (no pun intended) ‘Fine Art’ with wedding photography was only natural,” she says. “It involves clicking the same situation artistically and without turning the subjects into bunnies caught in the glare of headlights. It is probably one of the most challenging forms of photography ever.”

The keys to getting that perfect candid shot, she says, lie in spotting moments as they unfold and being almost invisible so that people are not conscious of being clicked. Priyanka loves what she does, particularly weddings that have some sort of twist to them. “I can’t wait for gay weddings to be legalised in India so I can do something different,” she grins.

You can read the full article here. The article describes me as “A project manager in the IT industry and an enthusiastic photographer, Priyanka ‘marries fine art with photography’. She’s one of the very few female wedding photographers in India.” The Project manager part is sort of incorrect because I’ve left the IT industry to pursue this profession. It seems the copy editor made some mistake in the original article which went in just fine. That’s fine as long as they correctly identify the part that matters :). The .jpg’s of the article can be found here [Page1, page2, page3]. The pdf’s are here [Page1, Page2, Page3]

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Slut Walk Delhi, renamed the Besharmi Morcha to suit Indian sensibilities took place on 31 July. Both women and men were expected to actively participate and support the cause. But though some 700 people turned up, not many women did, most likely because no one wanted to be part of a rally where they would be ogled at. However it was heartening to see men support the cause and take the lead. To ensure a peaceful protest there was considerable police cover, including women cops. Delhi Drum Circle and Asmita Theatre Group performed at the event. The media portrayed the event as a damp squib, but the energy at the event was palpable, and it was heartening to see men educating one another about acceptable behaviour.

The photo essay can be seen here – [jpg doublespread], [pdf Page 1], [pdf Page 2] . A ‘very low res pics’ version of the article is online as well.

The entire album from Slutwalk Delhi can be seen at my Facebook page. It got a lot of attention nationally and internationally thanks to the nature of this event.

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When Mita and Gautam Brahma were looking for a photographer for their son’s wedding, a small and intimate affair, they wanted someone who would do it “in an unusual way.”  Having seen Sachar’s work at her photography shows, the family zeroed in on her without any hesitation. “The highlights of the wedding album she shot for us,” says Mr. Brahma, “are things that a conventional male photographer would have never thought of capturing – say, the flowers in a child’s hair, the bride’s jewellery spread out on the bed, the peacock design on the sleeve of her blouse.”

You can read the full article here. It also includes sound bytes from some of my clients.

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Well, take part in the Valentine’s day offer!

What you get:

1. 50 colour corrected, hi-res (300 dpi) images in .jpg format.

2. The same 50 colour corrected, low-res watermarked images in .jpg format.

FOR FREE, FREE, FREE

(couldn’t resist the Indian ad tactic)

The rules:

1. Join the FB page for PSpective Photography.

2. Post the Valentine’s day offer details and this post’s link on your FB wall.

3. Post on the FB wall of PSpective photography, a description in your own (250 or less) words why you feel that you should be chosen for couple portraiture. Add your best memories, since how long you’ve been together, what he/she means to you, the more details, the better. You can add pictures/video & get creative too.

Terms & Conditions:

1. The couple must be located in Delhi/NCR.

2. Both the people should be available for the said couple portraiture on or before 9th feb.

3. They can be married or unmarried, that’s not important as long as they are in love :p.

4. Same sex couples are also welcome

5. The images may be used for promotion or marketing of my photography or as photography contest entries.

6. You are free to print as many copies of the images, but you can not use the images commercially anywhere.

7. Your taking part in the giveaway means that you acknowledge the terms & conditions.

One lucky couple gets to win the couple portraiture giveaway for this valentine’s day, gets their pictures clicked before 9th Feb and gets their images by 14th Feb – valentine’s day, just in time to celebrate their togetherness!

This is the first giveaway I’ve tried my hands on, so please bear with me. For any queries please mail at info@priyankasachar.com with your contact details.

There will be many more giveaways to come! Since the timeline is short, there’s a chance that the deadline of this giveaway may extend.

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