Mr. Sharad :Photography has always been my passion, from the age of 3. It was always a stream of my liking, It was in class 12th when one of my friend, Iqbal Mohammad and myself decided to work together towards a field which was our passion and we moved a head together and here we are today when we have done successful shoots for a couple of clients and still we a long path to go ahead.
Interviewer : Does your family like your profession, are they comfortable?
Mr. Sharad : yes, my wife is a stylist so she basically works with me for all my production, models and all the styling.
Interviewer : how much time do you spend at work, do you have shoots regularly.
Mr. Sharad : I am not only doing photography, I run an advertising agency also, it's called 1 point size.
Interviewer : Is there any style that you follow in photography, that makes you little unique.
Mr. Sharad :For me the most important thing is the concept. So I think that's the most important thing, for me in photography. It's not just about a pretty picture but I need to have an idea. I would either address a photography shoot with an idea first rather than looking fit. So that's what it is.
Interviewer : your wife is a stylist and from fashion industry, so do you always integrate fashion and photography together. Do you work in tandem with that?
Mr. Sharad : no, not really, see if a client comes to us possibly and wants some shoot to be done, it may not even be a fashion shoot, it could be a table photography top, it could be a photogenic shot , so it's not that we only specialize in fashion or whatever and I am a photographer , I do everything , I don't specialize in fashion only. I do all kind of photography.
Interviewer : ok cool....
Interviewer : so do you have any specific kind of equipments, anything that you prefer?
Mr. Sharad : I use a hassle black. ya it's a phase one digital back.
Interviewer : when you shoot is there a theme based on which you shoot?
Mr. Sharad : It depends, if it's an agency or a client who already has an idea we just need to execute. Execute it in something! But sometimes the client comes to us and says can you think of something and give me something different and that's when I get involved and that's when I think of different ideas and show it to them and get it done so it's not any particular line of thought as such.
Interviewer : So it just depends on what client wants?
Mr. Sharad : Yeah, if the client wants something particular / something different, then he contacts me and I take it forward. I run an advertising agency also and I run a photography community, an online community called oneeyeland.com.
Interviewer : Do you have a lot of users on that now.
Mr. Sharad : we have about 35000 users. We started about 2.5 years back and we have some 35000 registered members on the site. We have about 60000 unique visitors per month.
Interviewer : Are they all from India or all over the world.
Mr. Sharad : ahh I think 5 -6 % from India and rest is out of the country.
Interviewer : Is there a specific computer you prefer, something you specifically like. e.g.: Apple, Pc is there any preference on it.
Mr. Sharad : I use apple.
Interviewer : ohh apple ok.
Interviewer : do you use any computer graphic like Photoshop, coral draw , illustrator?
Mr. Sharad : ya we use Photoshop , when work on pictures and for our ads and all we use illustrator. Interviewer : So when you got married, sorry for the personal question?
Mr. Sharad : I got married in 1997 about 14 years back.
Interviewer : everyone has dream destination, so which is your dream destination where you want to go with your family or officially?.
Mr. Sharad : I would like to go to japan, I have not seen japan, that's something which I want to do and I want to go Antarctica. So these are the two things I want to do.
Interviewer : Is that your preference for your shoot to? Is that like for your shoot too you still like Japan and Antarctica?
Mr. Sharad : ya I would, it again depends on, you know, I don't want to shoot in japan for the sake of shooting, there needs to be some thought process or something so if the ad really needs that, then nothing like that, so these are the two things I would really like to shoot at for my sake at least.
Interviewer : What do you think is your inspiration at work?
Mr. Sharad : I think there are so many good photographer's internationally, so that's a great inspiration for me to do better. I get to see 100 pictures every day being uploaded on our site.
Interviewer : So how do you rate yourself? Do you get very short tempered or you a very cool and calm person?
Mr. Sharad : no, it again depends on how the point of view is, see as long a s a great team is working to make the ad better or make the photograph better then there is no issue but if you know, it's coming on to me then that's a different thing. you know the whole idea is to make sure, that the end result is better.
Interviewer : ok that's a very good answer,
Interviewer : now coming to weekends, do you have any special weekend plans with your spouse, to socialize?
Mr. Sharad : see actually my typical work hours are from 9.30 to about, I think I work till 2 in the night, so it's pretty hectic.ahh during the week. Normally sat Sundays are the days I just take off. So that's what it is.
Interviewer : ok what you think about the charges in the photo industry that are prevailing today. so photographer who are not to professional are claiming a lot , but being you like a high level photographer, what do you think about the charges that others are charging. how is the market standard in this industry ?
Mr. Sharad : I really don't know, because I know of photographers, who are doing jobs for free also...so I am really not sure about what really others are charging.
Interviewer : do you like to give some advice to the fresher's, how can they improve their client base, how can they get more customers.
Mr. Sharad : I occasionally teach in light and life academy, so I do some work shops there for the students for atleast once a year I try and do a work shop there.
Interviewer : that is great. Do they have any website also. .
Mr. Sharad : ya it is lightandlife.academy.org, I think, that is run by Iqbal the person whom I work with.
Interviewer : you see to achieve success, there are so many things we come across in life, what you think is the underlining thread in your life. What is it that's joins together for success? Does luck play an important role for success or its hard work?
Mr. Sharad : I think success doesn't come easy, I think you need to work at it all the time , it not that you know it all, I think every day I'm learning something new so the way I look at it is I'm a student and I'm trying to improve my self.
Interviewer : ya that's a great explanation, I think even a lot of people even being in the industry for two years think they are much more experience.
Mr. Sharad : I can list about 100 photographers who are better than me in the world so there is so much to learn from every one. So I think you just need to keep improving your own level.
Interviewer : For the budding photographers can I take your suggestion, is it that the upcoming photographers have to work hard and keep on learning.
Mr. Sharad : ya I think the problem with the young generation is, they want to be successful within an year and a half, so that is not going to be easy. They look at well established photographers who have been in business for like 15 years. New once get into photography and in one year's time they want to be like them.
Interviewer : that is virtually possible.
Mr. Sharad : the patience level has kind of dropped , has gone by everyone wants to have it now. Even when I started off, I started with one light you know with one lens. So today even before, the person joins his first job, he want the entire kit, he wants a strike immediately.
Interviewer : that's a very good point, working hard and working long enough in the industry gives much more experience.
Mr. Sharad : you need to have a graph which is a gradual growth, rather than trying to achieve on vertical line and thinking I'm going to be there next year. then it's not going to be possible, you need to have that patience and there are young guys who want to be highly successful, yes working hard and after 2 years you are going to be a kind of successful.
Interviewer : What you say I agree to it, it's more of hard work and smart work together will do the best thing. There were very big successes which have come up in 10 years like Google; it's about clicking the right thing.
Mr. Sharad :In fact I tell that to my clients also, they straight away come and tell me names of foreign brands. Now the foreign brands have been there in the business for so long, you know so you just can't compare yourself to him. You know it's like you start a computer shop and say ahhmm I'm going to bring the next apple in 2 years. It's just not possible.
Interviewer :It was my pleasure to get the opportunity to interview you Mr.Sharad. We thank you a lot from the bottom of our hearts for spending your precious time with us. It was very kind of you to schedule this interview amidst your busy schedule. Thank you.