Just a glimpse at Subham Swain’s Instagram, under @zuvamart, one will immediately want to ask him, ‘how much chai does this guy drink?’ And funnily enough, he tells me it’s the most common question he’s asked and he’s pretty confident in his chai-making skills.
Dialling it back a little, the 25-year-old marketing professional churns out daily posts of his cups of chai in flatlay form against a contrasting black slate. Each post is narratively-rich, depending on what else is featured in the image, be it a lounging pug, a few books or his phone with a song actively playing. For Friendship Day this year, he featured other cups of chai held by friends’ hands to signify important bonds in his life.
For Friendship Day | Credit: Subham Swain
First post, first cup
With over 3,000 followers picked up fairly quickly, Subham started this Instagram account quite recently — last November, explaining the idea was to post something everyday. “I thought of posting a picture of a flower — specifically rose — everyday. But I didn’t go with that as I don't like plucking flowers and roses are expensive. Then I thought of an easy solution and I found that like most Indians, I consume two to three cups of chai everyday. Honestly, this was a stupid idea but at that time I didn't know that I could come up with different ideas to share my story with a cup of chai.”
“I started this account last November... up until this February it was the experimental phase. By that time I started shooting with black backgrounds,” says Subham, who’s inspired by New Zealander photographer James Ting, “then I found a very useful video about colour science and how it's implemented in photography and videography to get more attention. So I continued shooting with black background and converted the background colour to deep blue in post production as deep blue and the deep orange of chai are contrasting colours and they help to drive people’s attention.. and it worked! People appreciated the theme.” The choice of cups matters to an extent, he prefers the rounded ones; seeing as he’s only showing the top view, designs don’t really matter.
Processed with VSCO with u3 preset | Credit: Subham Swain
As predicted with such a fun and creatively sweet idea, the feedback Subham receives is mostly complimentary. “Chai-lovers go crazy when they first discover my account,” he comments, “They share screenshots of my account on their Instagram story... that is how my account has grown so far. Honestly, I’ve never received so much love for any work that I’ve ever done in my life. I get feedback on improving the pictures technically from professional photographers, too. I love it, I learn the techniques from them and I try to deliver through my posts.”
Routine is key
Subham has quite the ritual when it comes to achieving his ideal shots. “Everyday I make chai for myself and I shoot the first cup of chai with my phone, edit and post. It’s a daily process. I try to shoot early and post the picture by 8am or 9am which is basically the chai time for everyone. That is the target I set up for myself to maintain the continuity.” He admits that he does sometimes fail to deliver at that specific time, sometimes posting at around 3pm or after. He adds, “But that’s okay; I believe as long as I’m not skipping a single day. Also sometimes I do throwbacks, but I don’t skip shooting.”
So when you’re up next in the morning and are in the extraordinary situation where you don’t have a cup of chai on hand, be sure to live vicariously through Subham’s posts.
