I am NOT a Photographer and We are NOT a Photography Company!

Yeah. You heard it right. It’s one of those Eureka moments that I had recently and it took some guts to accept that i am not a photographer.

For most part of of our career, we projected ourselves as a photography company and tried to sell our services – wedding photography and wedding videography. But only recently, i realised, that i am not a photographer and Shot Memories is not a Photography company.

To be honest, I didn’t learn photography formally. I didn’t get any formal training in any institute on how to handle a camera or how to take a picture. How I ventured into Wedding Photography is in itself an amusing tale. One fine evening, I saw an amazing picture of a couple shot by ace photographer Arjun Kartha on facebook and was mind blown. I was mind blown by the fact that the picture was filled with emotions. I didn’t see the technical aspects in the picture. I was floored by the emotions in the picture and was left wondering how a simple digital file has some much emotions embedded into it and how much it means to the couple. I felt like that one photo is everything that the couple would ever want.

That day, i decided to venture into wedding photography. The year was 2014.

After that, I attended a workshop called Memories, mentored by an amazing human being and ace wedding photographer, Amar Ramesh. It’s under his guidance, i understood the importance of stories and memories. This is the phase where i transformed from a photographer to a memory maker. But it took few years to break the shell and come out of being a mere photographer and become something more beyond that.

Trust me, i was not a complete newbie or an amateur in handling cameras. I had some basic knowledge on Digital Cameras and also played around with film cameras during the 90s in my childhood. But that one picture by Arjun Kartha, changed my entire perspective of wedding photography and i was literally mind blown. Till today, I don’t worry much about the technical aspects or the complexity of the gear or how expensive the cameras are. I never see the EXIF details of a picture.

All i care about in a picture is the “Perfect Moment”

You don’t need an expensive camera to capture a perfect moment in a wedding. All you need is keen observation of the happenings around you, and be ready at the right place to capture the right moment at the right time. It’s all about anticipating the moment and be prepared. A second early or second late, the moment is gone. If you are a person who worries about technical stuff, then the moment is long gone by the time you figured out your settings. However, with experience, you will get to know the right settings and be prepared for the moment to unfold. And, thats what you get paid for.

It’s the experience to anticipate a moment. You have to wait for it.

I am someone how always believe and give more importance to a “Perfect Moment” than a “Perfect Picture”. The picture may be technically perfect, but if it lacks an emotion, then it’s nothing to me. So at Shot Memories, as a business, we strive to capture these valuable moments & memories, and transform lives. We take our customers on a time travel and help them relive their precious moments, again and again. Thats definitely life transforming experience for me.

What is a good photograph?

A good photograph is the one that makes you laugh.

A good photograph is the one that makes you cry.

A good photograph is the one that makes you relive the moment all over again.

What is wedding photography?

Weddings are one of the most important events in one’s life. It’s definitely life changing. A lot of things will be happening at the same time and its the place thats filled with love, happiness and smiles. To me, it’s the most divine place on the planet at that point in time. To us, it’s the place where we find the nuances of love in the most chaotic scenario ever, and find amazing stories among them and make awesome memories out of it. I think I can very well make that as a mission statement of Shot Memories. Right?

Our Mission –

To capture the delicate moments of love in the most chaotic scenarios in a wedding, and to find amazing stories among them and make awesome memories out of it, that lasts a lifetime.

Nothing technical, right?

Love is the basic underlying emotion, that holds all of us together. Love is what we all strive for day in and day out. Without Love, there is nothing that matters. And weddings are the places, where there is lots of love.

Love between the couple.

Love between the families.

Love among the friends.

Love between you and the nature.

It’s just Love all over. It’s so happy to see everyone so happy. Right? That happens only at a wedding.

So as per our recently formulated mission statement few minutes back, we, at Shot Memories focus on Love, Stories and Memories.

To me, each moment is a story. Each frame is a story. There is a story thats running in everyone’s mind. Every person has a unique story. Every object has a story. There is a story behind everything we do. But in weddings, the stories are even more fascinating.

The story of the bride, worrying about her makeup.

The story of the groom, thinking what would be served for breakfast.

The story of the bride’s father, running around making sure all the arrangements are perfect.

The story of that random uncle, who asks you – “What are you doing now in life?”

The story of a kid, who have no clue whats happening so early in the morning.

The story of the priest, who is wondering, when the couple gets on the stage.

The story of the photographer, who waits endlessly for the couple to get ready.

There are millions of stories in a wedding. Every story is unique and deserves to be captured.

These are the stories, that we strive to capture and its worth the every minute we spend on the wedding day. So when you see the picture that we captured, we would want you to feel the exact excitement that you had at the exact nano second. It’s like a flood of flashback rushing into your mind.

Weddings are a place where there are millions of emotions running high. Happiness, joy, tears, excitement, fear, anxiety etc happening at the same time. To me, it’s the best place to be and we are blessed to witness and capture those moments for our clients.

As much as we love the stories in a wedding, we also love the memories that we make out of it. Wedding albums are the ones, that converts a story into a memory. I am a strong believer in print and encourage all my customers to get their pictures printed. It’s a different feeling to see the wedding pictures in print. All the pictures on the smartphones will disappear one day. But the legacy of a printed album remains forever.

Digital is cheap but print is priceless.

Check out our recent article on the importance of Albums.

I always believe in the law of nature. In the sense, when you are so prepared to capture the perfect moment in a wedding, and you have put your heart and soul into it leading to the moment and would never ever settle for anything less, then the nature automatically gifts you with a perfect moment, and all you have to do is to click the shutter button and that moment becomes etched in the memory. Thats how much powerful is the law of nature and the desire to go beyond technicalities to freeze the perfect moment for the newly weds.

As i said in the beginning of this blog, I am not a photographer and we are not a photography company.