It’s important to have a passion in life to maintain an energy equilibrium,” says 53-year-old Rajesh Ramakrishnan, Managing Director of confectionery maker Perfetti Van Melle India. Ramakrishnan, who is passionate about photography, explains that in day-to-day life so many things impact us negatively that it is very important to replace that with positive energy—something that one’s passion helps with. Ramakrishnan started photography in 2002 when he was working with Marico in Mumbai. “What attracted me to photography was its ability to combine creativity with analytics,” he says. “I am an engineer by education. I consider myself a left-brained, analytical, logical person. Photography has helped open up the right side of my brain. I have become more creative and that flows into work as well,” says the Gurugram-based Ramakrishnan.
He elaborates that photography has helped him become a better leader as it helps him look at things from multiple perspectives. “Moreover, it helps me be mindful of the present. But photography ensures I keep my eyes and ears open.” He adds that it also helps him get out of his comfort zone and connect with people. “In photography you have to be able to connect with your subject.”
Ramakrishnan loves to travel and his handy Canon 5D Mark III is always by his side. But he does a lot of phone photography on his iPhone as well. Another passion is shooting life on the streets. Pictures are then used for exhibitions, depending upon the theme of the exhibition. He held his first solo exhibition in Dhaka in 2016, when he was posted there. It was called Yoga-inspire.
“Over the last decade I have worked on several calendars. I conceptualise the calendar and then shoot pictures accordingly. The calendars are sold to raise money for charity,” says Ramakrishnan. A lot of these calendars are shot with celebrities. For instance, one year the theme was what you enjoyed doing as a child. Ramakrishnan shot Chitrangada Singh playing with her doll house and Jaaved Jaaferi playing with marbles.
Ramakrishnan recently won the second prize in a worldwide Instagram competition where you had to pick any iconic photograph from history and then recreate it with your own perspective. He selected a picture called Flower Power where a group of soldiers are pointing guns at protestors and one of the protestors places a carnation into the barrel of a gun. The photograph was nominated for the 1967 Pulitzer Prize. Ramakrishnan recreated it with a group of kids pointing their Holi water guns at a young girl offering them a flower.
Ramakrishnan started photography only in his 30s, but as he says: “It is better late than never.”
@smitabw
