CHENNAI: It started out as a bait to get the phone numbers of girls but his camera turned out to be a lot more than that. Meet Arun Nair who found his love for photography during his college days. Inaugurated by entrepreneur Sam Paul, he exhibited his first ever collection in association with The Madras Events at Savera Hotel recently. Arun talks to City Express about his professional journey.
“There were hardly any women in my college. So, like any typical boy in their teens, my friends and I went to an inter-college cultural. There, I was watching a person taking pictures of a dance performance on stage. Soon after, the girls flocked around peeping into the camera screen, passing their email IDs and contact numbers to the photographer. I thought this was a clever way to get numbers,” chuckles Arun.
And it worked! The organiser of the culturals offered him money to shoot another event. “I had no photography experience. I shot all pictures in auto mode. What made them great was that I had really good frames. When I started earning, I showed the money to my dad. In a month’s time, I had a new camera in hand,” says Arun and since then his camera has been his travel companion.
Taking a walk through his collection, Arun gave a background story for each of his pictures. “I call this my Photo Art. For me, the story comes first and then the picture. Anyone can take photos but it is important to perceive and not just see; give it a perspective. There is a story behind every perfect picture.” Arun pursued Visual Communication but his interests lay in photography, cinematography and acting. One of his ad films received the best cinematography award in 2013 and he has shot many short films. Currently he is working on three feature films.
Talking aout his photography plans, Arun says “I am planning to go on a photo walk to the slums this month. They do not have the money to get their photo shoot done and I want to do that for them. If one perfect frame can bring a little smile on each of their faces, why not?”
(To check out his works, visit his FaceBook page Arun Nair Photography)