Today we’d like to introduce you to Vishal Gandhi.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Every time we see the picture from past, it brings back smiles with those memories. Growing up, we could not afford to have a camera and I always miss my childhood pictures. When my daughter born, I wanted to make sure, I captured as many pictures of her as I can, on all her growing years. That is where I purchased my first Digital camera. I was happy to capture so many small moments of her life. Those pictures were perfect from technical standpoints, but it did solve the purpose.
Later, with social media and looking at other photographers work more closely, it made me realize, I can learn more in details to capture a better image. That is when I purchased my first DSLR. It was a new toy for me and I was capturing everything and anything I see around without much of photography knowledge.
Slowly, started reading the article about photography and watching YouTube videos. Also, started taking pictures for friends and family events and individual for Free. Initially, everything was black and white. I was getting some good pictures and some bad, sometimes you do not even know how you got a good picture. You do not see that consistency. One thing it standout from this was, I like People portrait with Bokeh over group pictures.
I purchased my first PRIME lens 50mm f/1.8 and started seeing some results that made me happy. At this point, I was getting good pictures of my daughter but was failing to capture others. I think it how you make other comfortable and develop a rapport quickly to get better pictures. Meanwhile also started learning Lightroom for editing. After good use of Lightroom for editing, tried Photoshop. I fell in love with Photoshop, as it gives me lot of control over the area I like to edit. I am sure LR gives that, but Photoshop is where I wanted to focus. I was started getting a good portrait of different people too at this time. There were few photographers (Cindy Cheng, Sapna Reddy, and Erin Summerill) who guided me on some of my questions and also provided me with feedback about my image results. Later, I worked with Venkat Kutta (Photographer from Atlanta) on some of the events. With him, it really helped me to learn and understand lighting, composition and much more around low light photography.
At this stage, I was still not able to find where I want to take my photography. There was a time, I gave up on photography. My brother, Viral Gandhi, who is also in same portrait photography work in India, continuously keep me motivated. Finally, we come across, Dani Dimond, a photographer from NY. After watching his few videos and Tutorials. It made me pick up the camera and go about my passion one more time. I could see and think pictures differently. After mixing my understanding with his work, I did start seeing results, I always wanted. Since then, I have captured so many portrait pictures of all different clients and Models and they also got published in a lot of magazines, some as a cover page.
Overall my journey was a lot of hard work, patience, and help from right people. I am still learning and trying to do better work with time.
Has it been a smooth road?
This wasn’t a smooth road. I work full time as a Director in I.T Company and with a full-time job, finding time to learn, execute and edit pictures were challenging. Balancing time between full-time job, personal life and photography was the main challenge. The good part was, photography was never about money, but about passion and till today I kept it that way. I do very limited and selective work, the focus is more on providing quality work.
Other challenges were to decide on when you can start charging Vs continue doing free work. This happened only, once you start getting consistent results with different people in the different location.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Vishal Gandhi Photography story. Tell us more about the business.
I am a natural light photographer and I takes most of my pictures outdoor. My special skill is taking Fashion and Lifestyle Portrait pictures with the small downtown location. Few magazine editors review my work regularly and request to submit print if the picture fits their theme. Lot of my client, who has never thought to be part of the magazine, is now part of awesome magazines and some of them even appear on Cover Page and Back page.
I do not have the logo on my images, I want people to know by looking at the images, that it was captured by me. Each and every edit on pictures are very detail oriented. Making sure, color, location, skin tone and sharpness match the magazine quality.
Lot of clients, who does blogging on Instagram or their own website are also my client. They need a regular session with various outfit combination to help draft their ideas on the website.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
From camera and lens perspective, new technology will help bring best sharp results with quality and color. Nikon D850 is a new camera in the market, and its launch on the 100th year anniversary of Nikon and has some awesome features.
From a client perspective, you will see Teens and High school students discussing their ideas around Fashion and Makeup on Instagram or Blog. This will bring more idea to market companies’ product and focus on taking more pictures in a quick and easy way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.facebook.com/VishalGandhiPhotography/
- Phone: 9723574182
- Email: vishalvgandhi@yahoo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vishalgandhiphotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VishalGandhiPhotography/
Image Credit:
Model: Holland Martin
MUHA: Katlynn Wiggins
Model: Kianna Rodriguez
Model: Khushboo Singh Rai
Model: Jasmin Jain
MUHA: Jazmyn Ray-Maynard
Model: Paris Vielma
Fashion Stylist: Layla Komal
Model madness shoot out House of Royale By Jay Ruth
Model: Zoya Khan
Model : Rhutu Jayswal
MUHA : Vanita Patel
Model: Amanda Nicole Thomas
Clothing Boutique : Dos Femmes
My Picture photo credit: Hector Reyes
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
