My new portfolio…

After my meeting with Honey Trehan, I decided that I need some normal pictures of me..just the way I look! No make-up, no studio lights! It is then that I took Nikhil’s idea of doing a photo shoot with his camera seriously! Nikhil is my Manager at work who has been a pillar of support both at work and in my personal life. He volunteered to do my photo shoot but the busy man that he is, he could not be there for the shoot. It was then that my dear friend Swapna or Swapz as we fondly call her came to my rescue like an angel! I had always considered myself lucky to be blessed with many friends who were photography enthusiasts – Nikhil, Rakesh, Chaitanya, Sidd, Mehul, Rohit, Saalim!! However, I was not aware of Swapna’s skills as a photographer. I always knew that she was this extremely talented, very artistic, cute, graceful girl whom everybody loved. She was known for kicking guys and stepping on people’s shoes (white, new shoes!!!)…for her girly “aaaawwwwwwwwww”s and “waayyyyyyssssssssssssssttttttttee”s and “duummmddduuuummmm”s… Nevertheless, everyone was (and is, and will be) fond of her for her bubbly personality and how she brought life into anything and everything! But photography?!? I was surprised when Nikhil said, “Swapna can click really good pics..she will shoot”.

So off we went to the office terrace and she started clicking away to glory…She showed me some of the pics and I loved them. However, I had no idea how the overall shoot was going. We shot for two evenings. Nikhil paid us a visit every now and then. He gave some weird ideas for clicking pictures. We tried them and they sucked (actually it was me who sucked in those ideas ;)). Swapna tried everything. At one point, she was leaning backward clicking pictures and kept on going back till she fell flat on her back! 🙂

I was really hoping that all this effort gives us something good. And when I finally took the camera’s memory card home and checked it on my laptop, I was amazed. Swapna had done a brilliant job..she had made ME look good! I really have no idea how she managed to do that but she did. Trust me, it is a very difficult task to get me to like my pictures. However, I must say that some of these pictures have made me feel – “This is how I want to look on the big screen!”.

Before this photo shoot, I had planned to go for a professional portfolio by a leading Film photographer. It would have cost me nothing less than a lakh. I have no idea how I would have arranged for that kind of money. Nikhil and Swapna’s efforts have saved me not just this huge amount of money but a lot of other troubles. They have proved my belief about friendship absolutely right! I have always believed that he who has true friends has nothing to worry about in life! Friends are your biggest back-up, your support system when everything else in life screws you up! I have been blessed with some unbelievably wonderful friends who have done a lot for me. I have no idea how I will repay them. Perhaps the best gift I can give them is achieving my goal and telling them that all that they did for me was worth it!! I now feel like working harder…moving faster…jumping higher…for my friends!

Thank you Swapz…and thank you all who have stuck around!! I love you all…

Posting some of the pics here: