Suresh Natrajan, one of India’s finest advertising and fashion photographers, recently did an advertising campaign for Pune based on fashion retail store- Jaihind Collections. The campaign, which was designed and executed by Pune based Seagull Advertising, was christened ‘Wedding Collections 2012’. Shooting of the photographs was entirely done in Alibaug, a coastal town and a municipal council in Raigad District in the Konkan region of Maharashtra.

The campaign featured male models posing in various designer Indian wedding wear and gears, a concept that was quick to capture the eyes of fashion lovers in Pune. Since Jaihind Collections is basically a Men’s store, selection of the location was vital so as to bring the male factor into the campaign. And according to Mr. Sameer Desai, the MD and owner of Seagull Advertising, there could not be a better place to shoot than the coastal town of Alibaug. Alibaug provides the beauty of the beaches as well as the roughness of forest terrain, a cocktail that worked well for the comparing.

Suresh Natrajan who has over 25 years experience working with some of the world’s top companies like Dell, Nokia, Tanishq, IBM, Visa, Taj Hotels etc; and celebrities, said that shooting the campaign was not so challenging since the season was well selected to favour outdoor shooting. However, like many outdoor shoots, light was the major challenge since at times the skies were clear and suddenly, there was a cloud cover that distracted the light consistency.

To deal with the lighting issues, Suresh says that they (the entire crew) had to be ready with high end lighting set up. Continuous lighting kit like tungsten lights and HMI fresnel spots were not required since it was a daylight outdoor shoot. Strobe lights were mostly used since they provide a bright flash of light which is a good fill light. Suresh also used modifiers such as umbrellas, soft boxes, reflectors and grid spots to change the quality of the light on various shots.

The raw images taken were later processed using Photoshop. Suresh advices those who want to take fashion photography and advertising as a career to be well versed with photography theory and then work under some well established photographers to gain experience. He says that though this genre of photography is well paying and interesting, it’s not an easy one to get into since clients don’t want to take chances with an amateur.

Photographer: Suresh Natrajan
Client: Jaihind Collections, Pune
Agency:  Seagull - Sead Advertising Pvt. Ltd.