Music, art as well as photography is something that has run in Prateek Mazumder's family for generations, if not as occupations, definitely as hobbies. "My mother used to dress up me and my sister and click pictures with our old Kodak film camera. My late father too had a Sony Handycam with which he shot his and my grandmother's music videos. I used to sit beside him while he learnt to edit videos in Pinnacle 8 from scratch, and by the time I was in Class VIII, I could edit videos by myself," reminisces Prateek. With time, he focused on his career as a stock market analyst after college until his uncle had gifted him his first camera, a Panasonic Lumix FS4 in 2009.
It was in 2014 that Prateek started taking small party photography assignments borrowing a DSLR from his flatmate. Consistent learning, a warm demeanour and word-of-mouth helped Prateek bag more work and now, for the past seven years, he has been a regular choice of photographer at the city's upscale private parties and occasions.
"Once when I started to think of photography as a profession, I tried to learn anything and everything so that I am self-sufficient to run the whole business by myself. This involved 4-5 hours of online learning every day after 10 hours of office," tells the self-taught shutterbug, whose wife, apart from his parents, has been major support over the last few years.
Be it weddings or commercial shoots, Prateek tries to create art. "My interest in cinematography has been more in focus in the last few years. I have worked with some of the biggest wedding companies in India and learnt and developed my skills to match their standards. Everybody is unique in their own way and highlighting that makes my pictures a work of art. Along with this, playing with the colour palette in post-production shapes the way in which my viewers see the pictures," he tells us.
Among the models whose pictures he has submitted for this column, Prateek finds Sushmita to be an extremely professional and experienced model who knows what are the needs of the clients. "Pooja is also delightful to work with. For her grace and dancing skills, she is really light on her feet. Laly has a happy-go-lucky nature and jolly attitude while Nandita is really updated with the current trends," adds Prateek, who currently uses Sony A7III for her shoots.
Prateek can be reached at 8981561314 or studiosprohd @gmail.com Instagram:@prohdstudios and @prateekexotic
Going by popular demand, Picture Perfect is now a fortnightly column, celebrating the beauty of the human form, captured by the lens of the beholder. Photographers are welcome to send in their work to indulge-kolkata@newindianexpress.com or call Sharmistha Ghosal on 98309-48078.
