Today we’d like to introduce you to Subramanian PV.
Hi Subramanian PV, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
When I was in 7th grade, I chanced upon a book my dad had. It was a small book on photography and I read it so many times that even before I had a camera in hand I had learned all the technical terms, about exposure, depth of filed, focal lengths etc. In 8th grade, my dad bought me a tiny point-and-shoot camera and a roll of color film and the journey started. In 1991 I bought a manual SLR with one 50mm lens with my own money and got more serious.
A couple of things that I was always enamored by were Baroque portrait paintings and glamor portraits of film personalities in the 80s and 90s. The lighting used in these paintings and pictures always intrigued me. My style of portraiture got heavily influenced by these paintings and pictures.
After being an amateur for about two decades I finally turned professional and started undertaking commercial assignments in 2009, when candid wedding photography was making an entry in India. The two decades had set me up well to adapt in different situations and conditions to churn out good pictures with any medium (film or digital) and I had also studied various styles of photography.
My wedding style has been a mix of documentary/photojournalistic pictures and portraiture.
During this journey, I have also been associated with leading brands as a mentor/ambassador. I have represented Profoto, Sigma and Ilford brands and been published on their websites and social media.
I also conduct workshops on portraiture, lighting and advanced post-processing.
In the last 3 years, I have taken heavily to printing. I believe that a print is the real output of photography. I am experimenting with Analog printing processes from the 1800s, namely Platinum Palladium printing, Salt printing, Kallitype process while also doing Silver Gelatin enlarger printing and Digital printing.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Before the advent of the internet and social media, the challenge was knowledge gathering. It was a slow process as you had to seek books or mentors and they had to have time and inclination. The advent of internet, social media and content creation alleviated this problem to a large extent and democratized photography, for which all of us should be thankful. But this brought about a different challenge. Social media forums and content moved to technicalities of the art rather than the art itself. Knowledge of technicalities meant everyone could be a photographer. This started impacting the photography business by increasing supply.
The other constant struggle is the cost of photography. Good equipment costs a lot of money and as a commercial photographer one has to justify it with ROI. The digital megapixel race has accelerated the pace of upgrades and every year, you see a slew of new technology and equipment and costs keep soaring.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My belief always has been that to be good at any genre, it is important to learn and attempt to master almost all genres. Creativity comes into your work when there is cross-pollination of styles. To that extent, I constantly kept reading about masters and I keep shooting street, portraits, weddings, fashion, architecture, still life, lifestyle etc. I specialize in Weddings and Portraits. Pictures are the only material things that refresh your memories about the past and I feel a duty towards my clients to capture them in a away that will bring a smile decades later.
As mentioned earlier, my portraiture style and lighting is heavily influenced by Baroque paintings and I try to impart a painterly effect to my portraits.
While shooting weddings, I borrow heavily from Masters of Street Photography and try to bring in layers, decisive moments, figure ground relationships and geometry into the pictures. For me, any shoot is less a commercial venture and more an opportunity to create art.
Currently, I am extremely proud of reviving and pursuing Analog Printing processes from the 1800s. Platinum Palladium prints are tonally very rich and last over a thousand years as they use noble metals. It requires a lot of patience and skill to create one print. It is also impossible to replicate a print so every print of the same image will be unique. I also shoot Large Format film (8X10), develop my own film and contact print them.
I also have a unique way of teaching during my workshops. I deviate from the usual path of teaching all technicalities first. It is important for my students to understand the art and reflect on what they finally want to achieve with photography, understand the philosophy of their journey and then embark upon the learning process. Learning technicalities will always leave a void in one’s heart and mind and always give a feeling of incompleteness.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Most people might not know that I am a CPA from India. I also undertook an Executive MBA from MIT Sloan and am currently pursuing a course in Data Science. I am a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt and teach statistics. I have been part of the corporate world for over 20 years as an Operations and Quality leader. I endeavor to keep a good balance between the right and left brain.
Pricing:
- Wedding Photography and Films: From $2500 onwards
- Portrait Sessions: From $300 onwards
- Platinum Palladium Prints: From $300 onwards
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thirdeyestudio.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/portraitsbypv, https://www.instagram.com/thirdeyestudio_net/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt5CRYMeCHi-h0mRQ4EfZ4A
