Travel addict, TEDx speaker, award-winning photographer and entrepreneur, Richa Maheshwari wears many caps with equal ease. A photographer with a penchant for fitness, she also holds the Limca record in the fitness category for maximum burpees in one minute breaking the current world record.“It is difficult for someone to startout in a new industry without a godfather. It was a new territory for me and it was very challenging. But starting out from a small town like Kanpur, I have come a long way. Today my company even collaborates with international artists,” she says.
The vision of her company RichaMaheshwari Films and Photography began with a creative dream while she was studying Fashion Communication in the prestigious National Institute of Fashion & Technology (NIFT), New Delhi. While her classmates worked to pursue coveted careers in graphic design or visual merchandising, she experimented with photography armed with her trusted DSLR companion, Nikon D60. A professor noticed her strength in communicating art and design through this medium and encouraged her to hone this natural talent.
“I remember the time when I didn’t even know how to get the lights perfect and how to adjust the lenses. However, each project has been a learning experience,” she adds. After ensuing freelance opportunities with sleepless night researching and learning the equipment, photography turned from an avocation into a full-fledged vocation.A self-made woman, she had set up a small studio by the end of her college year and managed to carve a niche for herself without having a godfather in the industry and without having ever assisted any professional photographer.
Talking about her favourite projects, she says, “I love the calanders that I make each year. It is a personal project.”She goes on to explain, “This year’s theme has been board games. Take for example, monopoly teaches us to save for the rainy day, chess teaches us that behind every successful man there is a woman, Uno teaches you to use your wild cards the right way, scrabble teaches you to make something out of nothing, Snakes and ladders teaches us to maintain the ups and downs of life in a calm manner.” She continues to inspire and believes, “The world is my playground,” shares she.