Fashion

by Samar S Jodha

Viewer Discretion: Nudity

Having worked in fashion photography at the start of my career led to one clear understanding. It’s mostly about selling perception, vanity and other self-image projection. Once I met a designer in Milano, and she put it perfectly, “When you walk into a room full of people and knowing you want to be the center of attention, and that first impression, where your individuality is everything (I say like an elevator pitch), And this is where the brands/fashion comes in, and the Italians have cracked it the best.”

So there came a time I felt shooting frocks was just not my bag. But I was very fortunate to have worked with designers who gave me the more significant meaning of clothes (ok, we can call it fashion), the education on weavers, traditional crafts and the larger ethos of that ‘fashion’ would come through. This learning even ended up with a textile book with Christie’s. But what always fascinated me was the human shape, the originality. The all kinds of shapes (not limited to size zero), flaws (to some), ageing bodies (part of life) and most importantly, is not living under the influence of photoshop and post production (pitfall in fashion photography for most). The raw and the uncooked is indeed the original cool. And we celebrate this with our lover/s, friends or even the self in the mirror.

Over the past three decades, I have been celebrating this idea of picture making with my friends, lovers or even professionally for women who wanna document themselves for posterity.

I believe this is the space away from that world of fashion and perception where a person’ confidence doesn’t need to ride a brand.

Fashion trends come and go faster than one can blink. But the natural us stays, grows and evolves on the path of life. It’s the non-judgmental space of life. And that is the ultimate signature of our individuality, the true freedom to celebrate self