With #diversity trending, runways and magazine editorials the world over are turning inclusive — embracing people of different races, shapes, sizes and genders. The idea has reached our shores, too: in 2016, Harper’s Bazaar featured transgender models on their cover, Cosmopolitan did an editorial on curvy women, and last year saw wheelchair-bound Ukrainian model Alexandra Kutas on the Lakmé Fashion Week catwalk. But not all attempts at inclusivity are created equal, especially in fashion magazines. “I don’t think the concept of beauty has changed; it’s a more trend-based thing. While I’m glad there is talk about diversity, how deep does it go?” wonders Mumbai-based photographer Colston Julian. “Today, I find magazines want to just make a statement. It is a start, but how much change will it bring in?” While fashion editors like Malini Banerji of Elle — “one of the first who said she will not use foreign models,” according to Julian — are making a difference, much more needs to be done. “Most publications still play it safe. Instead of looking to the West, we need to create a language of our own and celebrate our men and women,” says Mumbai-based lensman Ashish Shah, who has just wrapped up the shoot for Raw Mango’s Cloud People campaign, where he street cast models from the Northeast. We chat with five photographers on how they are playing the diversity game, along with experiments with technology and, ironically, a return to film.
Ashish Shah and a photograph from the Cloud People campaign.
Rebel with a cause
Ashish Shah has no qualms saying no. Last week alone he turned down three projects with leading fashion magazines because their ‘vision’ did not match his. “I’m struggling for inclusivity on a daily basis. People come to me and say ‘here are the models we’ve selected and here’s the mood board to copy’. There’s no voice there, no language of our own,” says the 34-year-old, who believes fashion shoots should showcase real people. “Even on a hardcore fashion assignment, I will do street casting. As a photographer, you are introducing something new, making a forecast, and reflecting the culture,” he adds. Calling his photography constantly evolving — from an early fascination with cold palettes and painterly images inspired by the West to a raw, portraiture style — he looks up to lensman Bharat Sikka. A four-hour conversation with the veteran, where he “told me I was emoting two different styles in my personal and commercial work, and advised me to merge the two, helped”, Shah admits. Drawn to a wistful aesthetic — his recent shoot with Architectural Digest features Kathak dancer Aditi Mangaldas in an Ahmedabad property designed by BV Doshi in 1951 — he is determined to celebrate our roots. “We need more editors like the late Franca Sozzani of Vogue Italia . She changed the language through visuals, but here we are still so Bollywood oriented,” he says.
Unlearning: “A couple of years ago, I had a meltdown moment. I wasn’t getting the work I wanted to do — what most publications wanted to celebrate was not what I wanted to celebrate. So I packed up and went to New York, to intern at 2b Management. I was there for six months, unlearning — not to get stuck up with the technicalities and expensive equipment and instead to form a bond with the subject. Recently, I also travelled to Puerto Rico to shoot the post hurricane situation, just for myself.”
Film rewind: “I started off with digital, but in the last six months I’ve been shooting only on film. The beauty is the process, which is all about you and the frame. And you don’t have 10 other people giving their opinion about what you shoot. It helps me cut down on my speed and think more about my photographs. That’s one of the reasons I travel — internationally more people are shooting on film, from Tim Walker to Jamie Hawkesworth.”
Tool kit: “I use the 120 film format, and click on a Hasselblad 500CM and a Contax T3.”
Bikramjit Bose; transgender model Anjali Lama for a Verve photoshoot
Monochrome and moody
He is not your typical fashion photographer: Bikramjit Bose plugs his love for portraiture into his photography (“I try to focus on the people rather than the clothes”), he loves the black-and-white palette (“stylists often complain ‘the outfits are in colour’,” he laughs) and he believes in casting unconventional models. “I’ve always been clear about what I want, right from the start. So I have a say in who is cast; and at least clients listen,” says the Delhi-based photographer, who has just completed an editorial for Verve , where he shot with transgender model Anjali Lama, and is looking forward to another feature on drag queens with GQ . “We are a lot more open now to the idea of beauty meaning more than one thing. Fashion depends on what is current and cool, and while India is a little late catching up with catchwords like inclusivity, it’s good that it has — it opens up what you can do in terms of crafting images,” he says. The 36-year-old, who looks up to photographers Prabuddha Dasgupta and Peter Lindbergh, and is inspired by cinematographers, shares that subjects of gender neutrality and androgyny appeal to him as visuals. His Ungender series for Elle — monochrome portraits that looked beyond gender — was showcased at the Focus Photo Festival in Mumbai in 2016.
Project watch: “My work is minimalist, a bit dark and moody. You won’t see too many happy people because I find happy photos flat and unidimensional. I’m working on a long-term project, shooting creative people like actors, musicians and writers (he clicked Arundhati Roy last month), which I hope to compile as a book and possibly exhibit.”
Film rewind: “Suddenly film is cool. But I feel what you shoot on does not matter if you don’t have a visual voice. You can shoot on a phone camera and get a great picture. However, I do want to explore film because, when you have a finite number of frames, the energy and focus is much more, and it slows down the process, which is not necessarily a bad thing.”
Tool kit: “I use a Nikon D810, but also want to pick up a Mamiya 7 medium format and a point-and-shoot Contax G2.”
Nishanth Radhakrishnan; Style Harmonies vol.1
Style and the man
This month, Nishanth Radhakrishnan was supposed to photograph the late Anthony Bourdain, for his show Parts Unknown . “But then I got the call about his death,” says the 30-year-old. However, the recce he did in Rajasthan did give him inspiration for an ongoing project featuring Indian tribes. “I consider myself an experimental photographer; I like to try innovative lighting techniques,” says Radhakrishnan, who is a fan of Norwegian lensman Sølve Sundsbø’s fantastical work because, as he puts it, “I just can’t figure out what he is doing”. The Chennai boy (currently based in Delhi) assisted Tarun Vishwa for five years — “living in the make-up room for two of those and learning a lot” — before striking out on his own and landing clients like Vogue and Elle , and campaigns with designers Rahul Mishra and Pankaj & Nidhi. “Fashion photography in India is gradually coming of age, though, quite often, we bring in inclusivity just because it’s being done abroad. We aren’t consciously trying to represent society,” he says, adding, “Though a lot of the fashion directors have great vision, the magazines are owned by corporates who want to play it safe, especially on the cover.” It’s in his personal projects that he lets loose. “I’ve worked with transgender models, shooting cross dressing, and a Nigerian model who’d come to India but couldn’t get much work because of his skin colour.” A recent feature in German magazine Kalt Blut had him styling a man in grunge dresses.
Project watch: “I’ve experimented with GIFs and projections (he is learning Cinema 4D now) because that’s where the game is going. But currently I’m exploring styling and working on a long-term project called Style Harmonies. In the most recent edition, I street cast local boys in Rajasthan.”
Film rewind: “With the quality of digital cameras these days, the results on film aren’t drastically different — there are some great film effects filters that bring a digital image close to that of film. It’s the nostalgia and the process of film photography, however, that’s the draw.”
Tool kit: “I click with a Nikon D810, and on shoots I use Capture One. I have several film cameras, and the one I use most often is a Mamiya 645.”
Anai Bharucha; a photo from the Design Fabric campaign
Minimalist point of view
“Our world is so influenced by drama and fantasy (like Bollywood), but these aren’t things you can relate to, especially on the pages of a magazine,” says Anai Bharucha . So she finds herself looking to Scandinavian simplicity. “I subtract from the frame rather than add to it. I think about what really needs to be there; everything else is a distraction.” At 25, she may be the youngest on our list, but she has already chalked up a few achievements: she has covered both the London (2014) and Lakme (2016) Fashion Weeks, signed up with an agency in Dubai and is anticipating her first international cover next month — a collaboration with French luxury house Kenzo. She also travelled to Berlin recently to shoot projects for indie magazines like Lovesome. “Travel inspires me. Also, on my personal shoots, I like to forget about the rules and play spontaneously,” she says. While the Mumbai-based photographer says that themes like inclusivity “are happening in India, they are on a much smaller scale” than in the West. “Though I haven’t had an opportunity in the mainstream, I recently did a story for Design Fabric — a collab with design label Half Full Curve — where we explored body positivity,” says Bharucha.
‘Social’ status: “Many people ask for your Instagram and not your website, so I am very careful it reflects my personal style. I think about the layout, what goes up next, and even use the Preview app to check how an image will look before I post it.”
Film rewind: “Sometimes when I click too much on digital, it frustrates me. So I pick up a film camera and really think about my shot before I click it. I can understand how clients might be uncomfortable at not being able to see the photographs immediately, but I am trying to encourage them to experiment.”
Tool kit: “I shoot on the Canon 5D Mark III. But sometimes, for commercial work, I rent out a medium format camera like the Hasselblad. I also own a Pentax film camera.”
Hormis Antony Tharakan; a photo from the Equality is Power shoot
The storyteller
Though a commerce graduate, Hormis Antony Tharakan switched lanes because he wanted a profession that was rebellious, challenging, creative and fun. After brief stints with photographers Ranjith John and Venkat Ram in Chennai, he assisted Tarun Khiwal for three years. “The trend now is minimal — moving away from the intense lighting of earlier years, the use of shadow play, photo-shopping, and even heavy make-up,” he says, adding, “India is having the best time for models, too.” So does diversity underline his work? “Magazines haven’t approached me with much experimental work, which I understand. Considering our background and various cultures, we often can’t be as bold as in the West,” says the 36-year-old, who has features out in this month’s Harper’s Bazaar and Cosmopolitan . He also feels things will change when the pool of models becomes more diverse. “Three years ago, we just had one model from the Northeast, who then became very popular. Now we have so many, giving us a choice when it comes to casting. As the diversity improves, the shoots will, too.” A conceptual photographer, who likes to “approach a shoot with a story in mind”, Delhi-based Tharakan pushes boundaries in his personal work. “I’ve done seven this year. The most recent is named Equality is Power, where I’ve explored race, religion, body type, etc.”
Trend watch: “A lot of people are moving to fashion films, and photographers are becoming directors because they have an edge. I’m learning it on the side; I’m planning to take six months off to do just that.”
Film rewind: “I’ve been shooting exclusively with digital, but I am looking to try film soon. I like to experiment with the treatment of my photos, and on digital, it renders them sharp, while film is easier on the eye.”
Tool kit: “I use a Canon EOS 5DSR and Canon 5D Mark IV.”
- Colston Julian
Photographer
The original, the people who were path-breaking and really made a difference, are forgotten now — that's Benetton. They had a vision and genuine communication – they didn't have a reason.
- Arjun Mark
Photographer
While there is a breaking of stereotype, with fashion looking to plus-sized, transgender and physically challenged models, it's a slow process — mostly because it is hard for most people to accept such changes immediately. Coincidentally, just last morning, I got a call from an online magazine that wants a shoot with models who are really diverse
