Karthik Srinivasan has shot 12 weddings in four days. All right, back up. That sounds impossible. Edit: He shot 12 ‘dream weddings’ in four days. The celebrity photographer just dropped his brand new calendar, Entwined, for 2019 — and though it might be a month late, we are entirely in awe of the pictures, themed around creating dream weddings, right here in Chennai. “Why travel to exotic destinations when you can create the magic right here?” he asks.
Collaborating with Radisson Blu Resort Temple Bay Mamallapuram and Grand by GRT Hotels for his locations and a multitude of designer brands like Zingbi and Gabbana Life for wedding ensembles — we are taken through 12 months of stunning visuals with grandiose colours, beach waves and exotic floral arrangements.
Stories from set
This is after nine calendars shot across a little over a decade comprising everyone from Taapsee to Illaiyaraja — the last one titled ‘Once Upon a Time’ was inspired by iconic Hollywood characters.
The reason Karthik chose dream weddings as a theme, he says is this: “I want this to direct more couples to my wedding photography venture Moonstruck.” He elaborates, “A lot of people assume that I am not affordable after 15 years in the business, but that’s not the case, we do intimate and large weddings (starting at Rs 1 lakh upwards).”
A quick behind-the-scenes of his four intensive days with models from Mumbai (between December and January) reveal the usual fun stories from set — hair not staying put because of windy sets and 3 am make-up calls. All run-of-the-mill, except for the final shoot day when shares, “Our make-up artiste wasn’t available till 9 am and so we had to start shooting at 10 am in harsh light,” a photographer’s worst nightmare when there’s a ticking clock for a deadline.
The creative solution that was arrived at was to source multiple ladders and have assistants
climb as high as 16 feet with ‘scrimmers’ (equipment that diffuses harsh sunlight) in order to get just the right mood, and of course help perspiring make-believe brides stay a tad cooler in the Chennai heat!
Skyscraper wedding?
More wedding fever awaits this year for Karthik with a black-and- white fine-art wedding photography exhibition planned for May later this year. Between that, a campaign with Sony India and a shoot with Juhi Chawla coming up, the photographer has plenty to look forward to in 2019.
With all of the focus on wedding fever, we are curious about Karthik’s own wedding, especially given that his wife Hema just recently posted about their 14th wedding anniversary. We wonder, how would he reshoot that day, given all the experience he has picked up over the years?
“I think I’d want to do it on top of a skyscraper in New York, but Hema would want a beach wedding in Mauritius... and we’d end up doing the latter, because of course, you have to go what the girl says,” he signs off with a laugh.
sonali@newindianexpress.com | @brightasunshine