Fotoflock.com catches up with the very talented and multi-faceted Amit Mehra for a conversation spanning his career, interests and tips for expert and novice photographers. Amit is known for his eighteen years traversing through all genres of photography; one of the few Indian photographers to shoot a range of international advertising campaigns for various clients such as Coke, Samsung, Intel, LG, Ford, Microsoft, Emaar, DLF, Amit had also been invited by the President of India to photograph the President’s House for the prestigious book, ‘Dome Over India’.

Amit’s work has been published in Time, Der Spiegel, Fortune, Conde Nast, Elle, (French, Indian & Italian) Elle Décor, Gallrie, India Today and Tehlka. His current projects include a coffee table book on India titled “India - A Timeless Celebration” and a large format book on just faces titled “We Indians”.

How did you start out? Who were your main influences when you were starting out?
Well, I started in 90’ when I left my CA in between because I was bored and wanted to do something passionate; I had no clue what photography was; honestly, I just got into it by chance and it turned out to be a profession over passion. Till date I consider it a passion; I do a lot of work for myself, a lot of books, photo features, self assigned shoots which are not part of my commercial agenda.

What was the most important thing you’ve learned with photography?
In the age of digital, true technicality has taken the back seat. Composition is the most important thing just as the eye is the most important thing when you consider a camera. You have to compose your pictures; a lot of things cameras can do on their own; like filmmaking where scriptwriting is the backbone of the film, photography, dance and music can’t do without ‘composition’; if the composition is weak, everything goes haywire.

The advertising industry has benefited artistically with your inputs over the years. From lifestyle to technology to fashion; the list goes on. What would you say to a photographer looking at working with advertising agencies?
See, most photographers who work with advertising are freelancers. Very few in-house guys exist so most of us work off the industry following briefs; initially, we get a proper brief, layout and most of the time, the photographer will only be copying the stuff based on what they want—with a touch of yours. The creative area is limited but it’s challenging. Like in fashion, when you get the best model, stylist, hair person and makeup, you generally get everything and for the photographer, the area to really make it is limited; everybody has their own distinctive style; about 20 to 30 percent of the time, you get to prove yourself, but after a lot of experience in your career, there is a bonding between the photographer and the agency.

In my case, after 15 years in advertising photography, I just get briefs sometimes over telephone or the internet saying ‘you have to do this’ and I have to do that somehow. It’s your baby—whether you do it or screw it; you have absolutely responsibility in getting the agency what they want with a combination of your skills and understanding of the brief. It’s your call.

I’m honored to be given challenging tasks because it forces responsibility. After all this time, it’s all about independence for me; I’m not just like a fax machine copying layouts; I’m free to do what I want to do; a creative guy or art director will vouch for me and take what I have shot now!

Tell us more about your approach towards photography these days.
The feeling is commendable and wonderful; my own work is absolutely different because at the end of the day it’s not like working for an agency; when you work for yourself, there’s no limit; most of the time, I work on my own subjects, my own timings; I shoot and pick subjects I can’t do in advertising. I just finished a book on India which is a deep study on 6 Indian religions called India- timeless celebrations; formal launch happens next month. It’s not about ‘celebration’; it talks about India as a country and celebrates their religions; whoever comes to India has become ‘Indian; so to speak so I tried to show India as a timeless country. India has always accepted people for who they are; their aspect of life. All these pictures were shot in 5 years; even now as we speak about India becoming a global superpower etc, India still remains very deeply rooted to tradition and culture.

What I’m trying to say is when you get involved i.e. when you shoot for yourself, it’s a different notion altogether. Earlier, I was awarded a scholarship by the Government of France where I worked in Paris. I went there to shoot belly dancers. I was supposed to work with the National Centre for Dance there but somehow those companies at the last moment were not available; I had to change my focus immediately! I’ve always been fascinated with Paris and my main interest was to shoot civilization so I started working on the city and there I shot a number of things from the life of a Parisian to fashion, architecture, the culture, in total what Paris is all about. These things you don’t get to do in advertising!

What happens in advertising (if you work in it for a long time) is boredom. After 6 years of advertising, I realized what I was doing in advertising was similar to what I would have done as a C.A! I was earning money, nothing else; after 10 years, you do get perfect with your work but where’s the art in that? Then I took a break and seriously started working on my own. Most advertising photographers die as advertising photographers because they work only for agencies. My next book is on Kashmir and when you’re shooting there and you get a call for an assignment for three days, you’ve just lost 3 lakhs! It’s important for photographers to work on their own stuff; its valuable time spent and knowledge gained.

On the technical front, do you think digital photography has killed film?
No. Now again the question arises, what if someone has tasted a 70 year old wine? He’ll always vouch for that, right? The younger generation will never have a chance to change to film; digital has more advantages; it has changed the entire scenario for all positive reasons. But for the luxury of photography, I did a black and white shoot and realized whatever software or stuff I use, it’s not going to make it look as great as a natural, non-digital set of photographs, you get me? Black and white still plays wonders till date; you’ll never get the same kind of quality with digital.

Do you follow your contemporaries' work? Any photographer whose work you respect and admire?
Definitely! There are a number of guys; Raghubir Singh is one guy who’s taken the photography scene somewhere else. Mitch Epstein as well. Indian photographers are really good like Raghu Rai who’s got an emotional touch to his work; you don’t see too much of that.

You’re also working on a large format book titled ‘We Indians’. Tell us more about that.
It’s basically a portrait of Indians and talks about Indians and their ‘Indian-ness’ using black and white photographs. It’s not just straightforward faces; these portraits talk to you personally; it’s my ability to communicate my subject’s inner feelings, the area where he/she spends the majority of their time—inside and personal. I have shot people in a variety of locations like streets, in their living room etc. It’s a set of comfortable photographs for my subjects.

What kind of advice do you have for photographers who want to get a foot into the industry?
All of us are photographers, thanks to digital! So what sets you apart; if you look at fashion, most of the photography looks like it was done by one person! But if you put Raghubir Singh’s work and Raghu Rai’s work side by side, you’ll always know who did what! That’s distinctiveness.

For younger photographers, work on distinctive styles; “polish your eye”, don’t limit yourself to a single medium and in fact, work on whatever catches your eye; as we grow, our preferences also change; go with the flow but always strive to be distinctive and unique and you’ll not only have work but satisfaction.

Photos by Amit Mehra | Fotosocial