Soulful shots

Sanjeev R. Nair is a name to reckon with in the professional photography field for the last two decades. He has shot across the world and doesn’t like to restrict himself to a single genre and his diverse portfolio includes advertising, fashion, food, architecture, but over the recent few years he has been creating images and stories to quench his thirst of delving deep into his innermost thoughts. “I travel and connect with a place and its people to explore new thoughts and feed on creative stimulation. We have honest conversations and often I find myself being invited to their homes for tea. During one of these recent trips I captured the Opium story, which is a work in progress for me. Another of my favourite series is Human forms, which is a continuous work. I call my photo art series Soul Art because most of these images connect deeply with my soul. These could be my random thoughts, my secret love or just the sunlight. Something tugs at my heart and holds the moment to act as a catalyst,” shares the ace photographer.

The photo-artist who admits that he works with no commercial compulsion states, “It is gratifying to create images from your influences, thoughts and vision. I also love to create artistic portraits for individuals. I spend time with them, exploring as deep as they want to dwell into themselves and create pieces of art littered with hints of who they are or what they deeply believe in. Although I respect my commercial work, these images from my soul art collection help me define my artistic style and vision. Each of my photographs are sometimes difficult to define, as what a piece means to me might not mean the same to you.”

One who does not like to bask in his own laurels, Sanjeev says every beautiful image he creates gives him a high. “I have been involved and have photographed various luxury, high end brands, international designers, supermodels, stars, but honestly that’s a temporary high; I’m always searching for a new high. I just returned from Spain where I was working on an Indo-Spanish cookbook. We shot continuously for 11 days in Barcelona. I’m currently working on my own coffee table book on capturing human forms baring their soul. It’s the purest form and a tribute to us human beings,” says the photographer who uses imagination and motivation as his gear.

He admits that he likes to keep it simple and instead of shooting a photograph of a beautiful person or a landscape just because it’s beautiful, he would rather create a visual story.