This time I did something different. I invited Ameet to pen down his thoughts for posting on my blog. He is already an accomplished writer and the following is a testimony to it 🙂

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Maybe this could be a first-of-its-kind story where the whole scenario is narrated by the person being photographed instead of the person who photographed. Well, my testimony about Niraj as posted on facebook still stands tall.

 

Pre-shoot Rituals:

To begin the story, I met (stumbled upon) The Picturist and it was to my advantage that I found him. When I met Niraj in person, I was surprised. He wasn’t too young, or he wasn’t too old. To describe him in my own words, I’d say, “He was perfectly aged”. Entering the 30s myself, I found an instant connection with him and I shared my side of the story about how I ended up in Bangalore. I told him about my love story – How I met Vandana (my fiancée). He was startled to know that I met her through Bharat Matrimony. He told us that we were the first couple of that sort whom he would be covering in his pre-wedding shoot.

While discussing about the location for the shoot, we explored (in talks) various spots and finally ended up at Turahalli Forest. I got stuck there (in talks), because, for one good reason, I liked that place – it was nearby my sister’s home. I had a chat with Vandana, and the date and location for the pre-wedding shoot was finalised.

Soon after a couple of days, Niraj was kind enough to create a WhatsApp group for us to discuss anything and everything related to our shoot. It was convenient for us as we were clueless as to what we were supposed to do. Obviously, it was the first time for us and Niraj helped us out big time. Be it in choosing the colour themes for our outfits, or the props. After too many stringent selection processes, and lots of date and time manipulations, we finally arrived at Turahalli Forest for the shoot. I even went to Turahalli Forest a couple of times for a recce, with my sister and brother-in-law.

 

The We-Day:

Looking at all the previous shoots that Niraj did, we honestly thought we’d have a fairy tale sort of a shoot. And when we arrived, there was a beast that had already caught hold of Niraj and his assistant. Vandana had this gut feeling (and she’s always right about it) that this beast would create a great havoc. This beast (the so-called, Forest Officer) told us that we’re not “allowed” to do any kind of shooting here. While we’d just begun the shoot and getting comfy with the camera and the location, a couple of officers (properly dressed in their uniforms) came on their bike. This time the shoot was totally halted. They ordered us to pack our bags and get moving. We can do the shoot on the roadside. Niraj was right when he said, “… in the end, it’s the honest man who suffers!”

Nevertheless, we started thinking of alternate plans and locations where we could shoot. It was already 4 in the evening and we were far from Lalbagh to carry out the whole shoot there, that too in the evening time. Also, we were losing on the light and it was nearly impossible for us to postpone the shoot for next day. Calling the forest officer proved futile and wasted another 10 minutes. We too lost our patience and finally continued the shoot outside the forest premises. We did get the best light though. And, to my surprise, Vandana turned out to be more camera-friendly than I was. It would be too obvious for me to write in length about how gorgeous she looked. But, I’ll leave that part out as this story is for The Picturist. He has captured our (loveliest) moments in such an agitated situation perfectly and his work with his camera and lights is truly commendable.

As compared to other stories, I think this one was the lengthiest of them all. And the shoot – the quickest one, I suppose. I hope the pictures tell the rest of the story.