Siladitya Dutta and Bipradip Chakraborty of The Wedding Canvas see a growing wedding industry

The pandemic couldn't make a dent in the photography industry, especially during weddings, tells photographers Siladitya Dutta and Bipradip Chakraborty of The Wedding Canvas
Picture by The Wedding Canvas
Picture by The Wedding Canvas

In these seven years that they have been clicking wedding photography, the profession has gone through a sea of change, feel Siladitya Dutta and Bipradip Chakraborty of The Wedding Canvas, one of the prime names from Bengal in this sector. “When we started out, the demands and expectations from a wedding photographer were not as nuanced as it is nowadays. With the number of events surrounding weddings swelling up now, the clients are very specific about how they want the pictures to come out. It’s more like a mini Bollywood film nowadays,” tells Siladitya.

The duo has about 20 members in their team and takes assignments pan-India, including destination weddings. They feel that though the scale of the weddings had gone down during the 2020 and the first half of 2021, the movers and shakers of the society didn’t compromise on the glamour quotient. “The weddings became way smaller in terms of grandeur due to the pandemic with destination weddings taking the biggest hit since travel was banned. But most of our clients didn’t want to do away with all the glamour around the wedding since everyone wants to have great pictures for posterity,” reflects Siladitya, who also were the photographers at actor Sayantani Ghosh’s wedding ceremony this December.

<em>Siladitya Dutta and Bipradip Chakraborty</em>
Siladitya Dutta and Bipradip Chakraborty

Bipradip informs that photography saw a nice mix of the phygital platforms during the pandemic with virtual shoots replacing pre-wedding shoots during that phase.They directed many couples virtually to get perfect shoots done through their high-end phone apps. “Digital or virtual shoots had become a rage among the millennial couples and we did quite a few of them. It’s an interesting concept, though for obvious reasons, the quality of the pictures isn’t as great as a high-end digicam would yield,” tells Bipradip.

But the real problem during the pandemic was handling the expensive and heavy equipment while wearing PPE kits and maintaining social distance. “It was excruciating to click pictures wearing the PPE kit in the height of summer months. But we all pulled it off somehow,” tells Siladitya.

Another trend that has picked up in the post-Covid world is the live streaming of wedding events. “Since the number of guest is limited in the wedding functions live streaming for all the relatives who couldn’t join physically, has become a must.

<em>Picture by The Wedding Canvas</em>
Picture by The Wedding Canvas

The young photographers, who are also a force to reckon with in the fashion photography industry, also adds that with retail fashion making a marked shift to the digital platforms, there were countless fashion shoots executed during the pandemic which had helped many photographers survive the lull without much crisis. 

And social media, which has always played a vital role in advancing the careers of budding lensmen, has become even more crucial post the pandemic. “We became what we are due to social media, but now, the virtual platforms have become non-negotiable to showcase one’s work. We started off by posting our work on Facebook, and currently, besides Instagram, there are scores of other wedding-related websites where one has to be really active to get attention and work,” explains Siladitya.

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