In Conversation with Photographer Richa Maheshwari

“Photography was something I didn’t decided to be. I just happened to fall into it. Hailing from Kanpur city, I started my Fashion Education at the age of 18 in Fashion communication at NIFT, New Delhi. Always having a bent towards fashion and aesthetics I wanted to make into a career where I could portray my imagination and enable the art to come out on the fore. Therefore, I kick started,” says Richa Maheshawari.

Her journey has been interesting and wonderful. Read all about it, in the interview below:

1. How did Fashion Photography happened to you?

Richa: Although Economics was my first love but I had a bent towards creativity and fashion was my calling. I appeared for NIFT entrance and got AIR 16. Hence, the entry into the Fashion world. But somehow I felt that graphics was not what i would like my career to be. I did this photography freelance project as suggested by one of my faculties, and that’s how i generated interest in it. I started practicing and reading more about photography and thought it was the perfect medium through which I could present my creativity across.

2.Both are different niches – photography & fashion. How did you thought of clubbing them together?

Richa Photography is a wider term. It offers various fields to specialise in like fashion photography, architecture photography, high speed photography, product photography. Since I had an inclination towards fashion , I chose to develop my future in fashion photography.

3.You are also into filmmaking. Can you give us a brief on that career selection?

Richa: Film making is possibly the broadest and most varied creative opportunity in mass media.A blend of creativity and technicality, Films are an important media, not only for entertainment and information, but also for communication. It is inclusive of feature films, documentaries, Promotional films, TV commercials, music Videos, etc. So people who want to express their views beyond a still frame, can graduate to the world of moving frames which is cinema. So with an increase in demand for an effective communication with the audience, I broadened my career boundaries to film making as well.

4. So you are a film maker, photographer, and a commuinication designer. How do you manage all these roles?

Richa: Communication design encomapases photography and film making; infact everything or every medium which is used to communicate design forward to people in a creative format. Being a communication designer, it is easy for me to manage and understand the need of the market , thereby delivering it through photography,graphics and films.

5.How do you strive to make them unique and different from others?

Richa: Everyone has a different style of working . I have my own. my pictures or frames express a deep research or thought process which goes behind clicking it. and to make it unique i always try to  serve something different from what the market is doing.

6.What ideas or suggestions would you like to give to our amateur and budding artists reading this?  

Richa: Photography is a challenging yet a very promising career. All you need is a creative eye with visual imagination. You can be self-employed and run your own studio or take up freelancing projects. You can also start as an assistant with a professional photographer or work with creative people like art directors, depending on your field of photography.