Prasheila Rasheila Lookhar left her dream job at an international development agency and Abhimanyu Sharma left his cushy role at consulting and sports marketing to follow their dream. They’ve been friends for over 20 years and that level of trust played a big part in starting Going Bananas Photography, through which they cover destination weddings the world over.
“As artists, we believe that being style-less is the best style to have! We shoot what we feel, not what we see. Everything comes from the heart. We believe in constantly experimenting with new ideas and are always open to learning and improving,” they say about their approach to photography. Maybe it is this simple philosophy that has helped land them laurels. Both have won at the Better Photography Wedding Photographer of the Year contest, and hold several awards from the Wedding Photographers Association of India. Internationally, they have won multiple Fearless, ISPWP and This is Reportage awards.
Speaking about one of their favourite wedding photographs, Lookhar says, “This is the first shower photo I ever made. We had just returned to India after a week in Nepal vacationing with Erika and Lanny (of Two Mann Studios) in February 2017 whose work has always inspired us. We came back to Delhi full of ideas and a crazy sense of purpose and the photograph was made in February itself. The wedding was taking place at Dusit Devarana (now Roseate House).
I spoke to Garima (the bride) about creating something novel and she was very excited about the idea. I was inspired by our vision of wanting to redefine what wedding photography is supposed to be. I feel it is a very empowering image of a woman. A photo like this takes an extremely high level of trust to be established with our couples, which takes time and patience; spending time away from our cameras and with our subjects instead. It was a very tough image to make with steam all over my lens making it difficult to see, water drops splattering everywhere making it difficult to focus and needing to manage my off-camera lighting, all at the same time.”
While Lookhar speaks of trust, Sharma speaks of empathy, “I have written in detail about this photo earlier, but there is always so much more to talk about! This photo was made at Ramya and Rahul’s Telegu wedding in Hyderabad in October 2017. The wedding was taking place at Ramya’s home, so even though it had celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar attending, there was an innate sense of intimacy. Once we understood that Anya (the young girl in the photo) is the groom’s daughter it became obvious that we were fortunate to have been given a very special opportunity. Weddings are already an emotional roller-coaster, but the presence of Anya meant an emotional component to this beautiful story, which required our complete attention and a huge sense of responsibility.
We tried putting ourselves in Ramya and Rahul’s position, as well as that of the grandparents. In this instance, right after the wedding ceremony concluded, Ramya, Rahul and all their friends came to give Anya a giant, group-hug. This photo is so special for us because it’s a testament of the love that Anya will always be surrounded by, and how genuine respect and love for each other allows people to rise above social stigma and live and love together.”
The duo loves their Canon 5D Mark IVs, our Godox lights, and range of Magmod flash modifiers. They’ve just started using the newly-launched Canon 1DX Mark III, and have fallen in love with it. Contact:instagram.com/GoingBananasPhotography