Exposing hidden layers

ISSUE: 136

Rishi Raj believes a good photograph must initiate a nonverbal conversation with the viewer

How did your Fashion Communication education fuel your career?

RR: The Fashion Communication course offers a lot of options for any design student. We were taught everything from photography to graphic design, visual merchandising to fashion styling, and fashion journalism to marketing. Having so many skill sets makes an individual more valuable than somebody who can only ever do just one thing. I think this is the biggest advantage of the Fashion Communication course.

What were the challenges involved?

RR: I think the biggest challenge is to satisfy the creative soul within you. There are only a handful of clients who give a photographer the creative liberty to be experimental. Before you know it, your passion becomes a job, and it is not all sunshine and rainbows afterwards. It becomes like any other job. As a freelancer, the challenge is to actively look for the next source of income.

Please share your aspirations.

RR: My photographic journey has been quite intentional so far. The first thing I learnt was how to use a camera properly and get a properly exposed photograph. Then I learnt how to use light and compositions to make a photograph aesthetically appealing. Then comes the visual language part which I’m feeling relatively confident about. And the final step which I’m aspiring to achieve is to be clear and conscious about the message I communicate through my work, because that’s the most important aspect of anyone’s art form. We can only ever talk about things we’ve experienced in our lives, so it really helps an artist set themselves apart. I’m on this journey to visualise and figure out what I really want to communicate through my work.

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