How far can passion take you? Ask Vikram Bawa. From being MD of a firm to be country's noted photographer, Vikram has a bagful of awards to prove his prowess. Mega Modelz gives an insight into the man's life.
The light is just perfect; the background is meticulous; the shutter speed and aperture just right and the subject-a top notch glamozon wrapped in designer threads!! And a tall lanky man darting his eyes across his 35 mm screen and twisting around on the floor to get that perfect shot…
And click goes the camera!!
An art form has just been born!!
And the proud father just can't stop beaming. That's the ace shutterbug Vikram Bawa for you!!
“Each picture is like my own brainchild and I feel the same strain of ecstasy as sparked off by the first touch of a child to a father”
Mid career switches is what best defines his career graph. After a degree in Maths and Law, Bawa morphed into a photographer from the managing director of a chemical firm!!
“I had a choice between clinging onto the trite or chart out a new path…I chose to take a plunge”.
And the decision proved out to be a turning point. There was no looking back for Bawa thereon. After raking in the top international honors for his breathtakingly beautiful campaign on Leela Palace in Goa and bagging the best photography campaign for a five star hotel in the world, Bawa s list of accomplishments is impossible to match.
And so seem his reams of creativity and his experimental streak. Living up to his title of “Master of Gimmicks”, he is widely known for his 'Red Effect' or more appropriately Bawa Effect-using the tones of red to give his pictures a dreamy painterly hues!!
And that's not all; Bawa is also the first Asian Photographer to have ventured into 3D Photography pretty much an uncharted territory for even the most formidable lens man. But that did not deter the man from exploring the unexplored. Experimentation is the key! I happen to read an article on 3D technology and that aroused my curiosity to try it on…”
His vanishing tricks or what he calls Disappearing Photography amassed rave reviews and propelled him right at the top of glamdom!! After having captured the who's who of fashion industry and captured the likes of Bollywood's power couple Bipasha Basu and John Abraham, the man's firmly rooted to the ground. Ask him about his favorite model or actress and pat comes the reply , ”I don't have any favorite model. The model in front of my lens is my favorite model of the day...
After having fashioned his career behind the lens, the suave man does have a grouse with the new breed of photo-makers, “We shouldn't fear to experiment. Indian photographers are at par with their international counterparts but we are miles away in terms of creativity.
And quiz him on the difference between the International Fashion photography in India and there comes his verdict. “There is a lot of difference. For us in India, unfortunately fashion is all about shooting pictures where the clothes have to be visible. Whereas if you look at international shoots fashion photography is about creating a style statement. It can be just a spectrum of abstract images of a product, or the related setting. We still have to understand the power of a concept here But unleashing the bounds of creativity can also nip a photographer's career in its bud. “Your creative outburst has to be in sync with the client s requirement. And that's how you can deliver a great picture.
And what about the clotheshorses? Bawa's preferences are away from the multitude. The idea of beauty is still a very skewed and narrow hailing down from the days of British rule where whiteskin meant superiority. “It is irrelevant now days. I personally prefer the dusky and chiseled. And finally, there's love for fashion. It's no surprise then. It's love that reflects on his canvas. With this A lister of the fashion world, it's all about chance-taking them or creating them!!
