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Transcript
Vineet
Hello and welcome back to Photosynthesis, individuals podcast and well, videocast, though that’s not a word, where we discuss the creative and the commercial process of photography and videography in India with some of the most talented people that I’ve ever met of all ages, all domains. So much fun. Today we have Yash Pardeshi with us, who’s been basically doing photography for a few years, but he’s gone into a very interesting area. He’s done…
Music concert photography, yes, but also commercial travel photography, which is a very, very interesting area I’m going to get into. Hi, Yash Welcome, welcome. And I’m just going to jump straight into it. How did you start off and how did you get here over the last few years?
Yash Pardeshi
Hello?
Yash Pardeshi
Yeah.
Yash Pardeshi
So I started when I was 11. I started photography because I used to see a lot of photos on Instagram. People click that this is an animation, this is photoshopped. So after seeing all that, I wanted to know this in depth. What is this basically, how does this happen. So I started photography slowly. And I was already in art. Like I used to do chalk carving before starting photography.
Yash Pardeshi
who write chalk on blackboards, I used to make sculptures on them. Yeah, so I was already into art, so I used to do all this. After that, I started photography slowly, but then I thought that we can’t do this, we have to do something properly. So then I talked to my parents, that I want a camera, my parents didn’t agree, but somehow they talked to my mother and said yes for a second hand camera. So yes, I said, take the camera, but she said, do it properly.
Vineet
Yes.
Yash Pardeshi
So we have a community called Bhaal Bhawan here, a building type, we can call it a school. There are 10-10 days course on summer vacations. So I took the camera and went to do the course. There was a photography course too. So I went to do the photography course. Basically the scene was that they taught you on auto. It is not possible that in 10 days they teach you auto, manual and framing. So they teach you on auto that there is half shutter, click and focus.
then the photos taken with the button, that is called shutter release button so I taught all those things I had such a… yes, aperture mode, all this can be said that it comes later but I taught it very basic like I told you about viewfinder, I taught all this and it was quite normal, so I thought the same after going to the course for 5 days, that I can’t do this and I can’t learn what I want to learn
Vineet
So I put in a little bit of teaching and a little bit of…
Yash Pardeshi
I will learn this from YouTube too. I left the course of 10 days in 6-7 days. After that I started photography again. After leaving the course properly, I used to shoot photos of people on random streets. I spoiled the camera too. I didn’t know that the main sensor takes the photos. I used to clean the sensor with my hands. I used to rub it with my finger if there was a drop-off.
Vineet
What happened to that sensor?
Yash Pardeshi
I didn’t have any knowledge before, so I did all these things and the camera was almost ruined. So I thought that they would have sold the camera and I would grow from GoPro. I can’t do anything with the camera, I will grow from GoPro. So I purchased GoPro and the next day it fell from my hand and I got scratches on the lens. I didn’t tell anyone about this at home because my mom bought a second hand camera and saved money. And that also got ruined.
and this camera is based on this camera, so I bought this camera and this camera is also damaged so this happened, and then it happened that I have a photographer on Instagram I got inspired by him so his name is Nishche Jain and his Instagram handle I am also a photographer so I used to watch his many photos and videos so I saw that he had posted a story of a photo walk that there is a photo walk in Bandra and I will tell you the dates exactly it was 21 January
Vineet
Hmm.
Yash Pardeshi
and 2018 was the year I messaged him that these are the photo walks, can I come? He said that everyone is allowed, how much is the fee? He said that there is no fee, just a small meet and greet and all the photographers come and meet and if you have any questions, you can discuss with us I told him that I will come, but my age is 12-13 years I am eligible He started laughing and asked what are you talking about?
I thought he must have some criteria like 18 underage or something. He said, it’s nothing like that, you do one thing, you come. I was small then, I couldn’t go. I had a lot of friends. I told them, let’s go once. Let’s go and see. He said, okay. I somehow convinced him and took the train and we both left. He went by local train without taking a ticket. And that place was also far away.
and then we took the bus to the location So the day I reached there, I learned a lot from him and asked him, he gave me queries and he used to go to the photo walks every Sunday I mean he used to click the photos himself so I used to go with him if he came to my side, like Gate of India So that’s how this journey started
Vineet
So speaking of Gateway of India, the one we were talking about yesterday, you took a lot of photos during the lockdown.
Yash Pardeshi
Yes. So, it was like, when the lockdown started and I live near the gateway of India. Gateway of India is now near me, from my house. And Marine Drive is near me, Chopati is near me, all of this is near me. So, I used to roam outside all day.
So in lockdown, there was a specific time that you can go out from 6 am to 7 pm and you can tell that you went out for some utility or some necessity purpose I used to go out alone, I had a friend with me, so we used to go out properly in lockdown and we used to go out to many places and we have travelled a lot The scene of Marine Drive was that there were no police officers there and barely 1-2 dogs were there on the streets and we were going out alone and taking photos
So basically this happened in lockdown. Before lockdown, I used to do photography with my friends at beaches. I used to use my friends’ gear and shoot with their phones and post on Saturday and Sunday. So I asked my friend how long I will shoot with his phone. And the next day, luckily I got a message from a phone brand. That we will sponsor your phone and you come to the launch event in Delhi.
Yash Pardeshi
and you can experience the launch event and they will sponsor the phone and give you everything so I said okay, we will do it, we will see what happens after trying it so I was associated with a realme brand so in lockdown also their phones were launching and globally they wanted someone to give them photos so I worked for them in lockdown too I used to click photos and give them as a sample image or as an Instagram content for them because I was creating content for realme
So I gave them the content. Then I got more calls from Realme. I went to Leh Ladakh with Realme. Which I never expected that we will go this much. Or we will get to travel this much by photographing from Instagram. So that also comes from a commercial side that you get money to travel. So in that Realme was taking us to Leeladakh. And that same week I talked to a friend. That they said that everyone is going to Leeladakh and we should also go. So we saw that.
We got the chance and both of us got to go because both of them were creators So we both went together And when the phone brand started coming, then a time came that I did it in lockdown I thought that I won’t get money, how many days will I work on collaboration basis So then I thought from that brand that now this brand is done Now I will separate myself and try something commercially So the day I left Realme, the day I finalized the decision And luckily that same day I got mail from OnePlus
Vineet
How is this happening? How is this happening in the same way?
Yash Pardeshi
So, this is what happened. Oneplus is launching a new campaign. Our new phone is launching. 8 series. And 8T is launching. So, we want creators to associate with Oneplus and create content for them. So, we have shortlisted your profile. And we want you to do it there. I said okay. So, that day, they mailed in the evening. We talked, commercialized and everything. And then it happened. We are getting money.
So that day, and he said, you have 20 minutes, we’ll meet in 20 minutes Finalize everything by 8 and sign the contract From tomorrow, you will be able to send the phone zones to us and start creating content So that was also the lockdown period, it was just a little bit open, October 2020 Till then I was with LME So then I shifted to OnePlus Then I started doing it in OnePlus, it’s been 3 years since 2020, I’m still associated with OnePlus
So I started working with Oneplus. I have shot a launch event for Oneplus. I have created offline online content. And I have shot a project abroad for them. And recently I had done a project with Oneplus Global. A short for the launch event.
Vineet
So these projects are all basically because Ladakh and abroad, so the sense is that by using their phone, take the best possible photographs, right? That they also have clients. You have to show the customers that you can do such amazing photos. So all the photography you were doing with their camera, with their phone.
Yash Pardeshi
Ya.
Yash Pardeshi
and before Reel, all my followers are already there because I have stopped posting now because my commercial side is getting more work and I started this as a hobby photography and I never thought that I will earn so much from this so I started from drone and started posting photos of Mumbai from drone which were very rare, no one used to post quickly because I was not 18 at that time
I didn’t know about the rules and regulations I flew drone everywhere say marine life, say Chopati and many sites in the Grand road area and I flew drone in many places I didn’t know that there could be many legal issues so my photos
Vineet
There were not many rules back then, nobody knew. Now they have come.
Yash Pardeshi
and when photos get viral, people start to know me from that, from phone brand and from phone slowly my journey continued
Vineet
So now going deeper into the travel photography part You said that you went to Vietnam basically
Yash Pardeshi
Yeah. I have been to Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and even Abu Dhabi.
Vineet
Now many people are taking notes after seeing this. How? We have to do it too. We have to do it too. So let’s take one project. So Vietnam. What was this? Why was this?
Yash Pardeshi
So basically in Vietnam, I was signed with the agency for OnePlus. I used to do a lot of commercial shoots for the agency. Influencers, celebs, they got something from OnePlus. Or something from their other brand. So I used to do that. So they thought yes, it works well. So they thought that now we are getting a project. Which is from OnePlus, associated with Google.
Google technology and phone brand is OnePlus So, OnePlus and Google So, both the technologies were coming together to create a collab. So, in that collab series, 3 creators were brought and 3 videos were made One was in Technical Guruji, one in Trekintek and one in Tanya Kani Cho And all 3 videos were to be made in Vietnam. So, how can you explore another country by using Google features? For example, if you
If you are going to Vietnam, people will not be familiar with Hindi or English or everyone cannot speak English So you will use Google Translate and you will translate it in Vietnamese language and if you speak English, it will spell out in Vietnamese and it will sound out, so they can understand So this was a project and there are many such technologies in which maps are used, translations are used Google is new now, so you can take a photo of a location on Google
and if you scan it on google photos you will get the exact location so that was the whole story
Vineet
But this one, this campaign does not sound like a short on realme, short on oneplus type. You can see here.
Yash Pardeshi
Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is not short on OnePlus but this is like a proper commercial. So this was more of a commercial trip. Yeah, this is shot with a proper camera. I used a proper Sony FX3. And this is shot on gimbal and everything. And it was like, we had to go there as soon as possible. As soon as possible. And we had to wait for 5 days to decide which location to go to and what to do with the creators. And which location would be suitable for which creator. Like this. And it was like, you go there.
I have a friend with me who is a well known cinematographer, creator and director His name is Manjdeep I talked to him about this project We said that we will do it together We will get two angles I will be the mayor and you will be the one who stays He said that we both planned it and we got our visa and everything And we left The creators who were coming to make the video They were not getting their visa And our visa was so bad that we got a 10 year old visa
And now we have a visa-free country but we have a 10-year visa since then. So we were happy that we will go. We landed in Vietnam. Our hotel was at the prime location. Open the hotel window. So there is a ceiling like in Bombay. There is a harbor there. You will see a harbor. You will see a marine drive area. We were in a good VVIP area near the President Palace. We were also good and we were given a car there. Good.
So you can take a car and go anywhere you want, check out locations, everything is on you, a creative freedom. So we have…
Vineet
Speaking of freedom, I want to get into this. What was the creative process for this project? First, by going there…
Yash Pardeshi
yeah so creative process was like we were understanding which creator will match with whom and how not. For example technical guruji so if we see technical guruji he becomes superior zone and technical guruji he doesn’t come in traveling zone so we have to focus on prime locations and we have to take something which he never experienced before so we studied his page what are new things on his page
and what we can do here, which is new on their page and also keep in mind that the people who watch the videos of Technical Guruji at the start they should understand that this is Technical Guruji’s zone so we kept the start as normal, took a prime location and shot it outside like the intro of Technical Guruji Hi friends, this is him, so we took that part and after that, if people see Technical Guruji or know him then they know that he is considered to be in a superior zone and like he is more fond of cars and all this
So what we did was we used a cycle type of ride So basically it is a cycle type but in front there is a bucket type and people sit in it and ride the cycle from behind So they can also be called a rickshaw type and that was more new for them So we thought that they are riding a cycle and make it on top of this that they are telling us that we have to go to this location on the phone You take us there So we used the same maps, Google technology, oneplus phone
that they were cycling. So we showed them the cycle ride. And there is a very famous temple but it is very far away. In Vietnam. So we took them there. Because no one comes there. And it was a very good place for shooting and for cinema. So we took them there. And as technical guruji goes everywhere. So he explores the main places. So we took them to the main bridge at night. The main bridge. The harbor bridge. We took them to that bridge to shoot there. So this was the technical guruji’s part.
They are part of Trek n Tech, they have many channels and they are Tech YouTubers They make videos in Marathi and Hindi We studied their zone and we saw what they don’t have on their feed We explored the local market with them They tell us about the new fruits they see and we ask them what they will take from them They couldn’t answer back because they didn’t know English and they used to speak Vietnamese
Yash Pardeshi
they scan the images using Google technology and they can see the name of the fruit and we have shown them the whole city of Ho Chi Minh so this is a part of Trekin Tech and we have used many features in this for example, there was a place where we had a cycle ride so we had to show the cycle ride, technical guruji phones and the whole environment so we had shot with 360 camera
and we shot with drone. We used 360 camera because every element we thought in the video should stand out and everything should be visible. That’s why we used 360 camera and we saw the cycloride and we saw how vast that place is that’s why we used drone shots so similar we shot video of Tanya Finijo she is a well known travel blogger and travel photographer and travel creator so we took many new locations for her like backwaters in Kerala
If I am wrong then I will tell you the exact location of Halong Bay So we went there There is a boat ride in which 2-3 people sit And it is a very small boat And it is called Sampan in their local language So we took them there to explore And Halong Bay is an island And it is covered with water And it is more known for 2-3 things Like coconut water And their fishing Fish farming
So that place is such that they do fish farming there and they have made restaurants on the island So in which you get options that you can select which fish to eat, so they will cook it for you in your style as you want So we had kept that zone for them and we had kept that they liked the flowers a lot So we took them to the most famous flower market there and explored what new flowers are there and what they call them So we explored everything properly
Vineet
Hmm.
Yash Pardeshi
and made a collab video like this which is still live on YouTube
Vineet
So on this, I won’t ask about the earnings, but is it comfortable? Are you happy? Do you consider this a full-time sort of thing where you can go at least?
Yash Pardeshi
Basically, I can say that if you ask someone to do full-time, I will never agree. Because in this industry, if you have made a name and you have creative freedom, you have some different scripts or you have different plans, you can stand out. So if you do freelance, you have a lot of money. So I personally don’t agree with anyone to do full-time as a creator. I will tell you my experience. I tried in two agencies.
as a photographer and videographer to work but in one agency I went for 1.5 days and quit my job and in another agency I went for 3.5 days and quit my job and I didn’t even take payment from them
Yash Pardeshi
Because I can’t work in my zone. Like this.
Vineet
Okay, so let’s discuss one more project. Abu Dhabi. This is the recent project.
Yash Pardeshi
So basically, Abu Dhabi’s campaign was that Visit Abu Dhabi Tourism had messaged me in 2021 that we liked your content and we would love to see Abu Dhabi from your lenses if you come to Abu Dhabi So I said okay and that was the first big project for me where I was getting to go to Abu Dhabi and I was getting access to shoot in many places so I was excited but the issue was that my passport
Mumbai spelling was wrong Mumbai spelling is M-U-M-B-A-I and it was written Muma as well M-U-M-A-B-I So it was like my visa was rejected during my visa and all my contracts were rejected because there was a problem with passport issues so they told me to wait and sign the contract before signing
Now you can’t do anything because this is a major problem so you solve it and let us know We will consider you then So all those issues were solved and everything else was done and I was talking to them so they were not replying But luckily I got a revert from them in June or July That we will change the dates in signing the contract that you had held And you come Abu Dhabi And Abu Dhabi is the season of NBA now so it is very hyped So you come and watch NBA
and experience abudhabi which was your first contract and it’s the time of NBA so many people are coming to watch NBA so it will be a good season for you and it will be good for us that we get to see some NBA content from your angle and it was like that for proper NBA we didn’t have to create content but it was more like you do fun but you can share some content pieces if you want to do it or you put stories so that was it
I also felt that NB has been watching for a long time and everyone knows that it is trending People are aware of Jordan So I also thought that we will get a chance if Michael Jordan comes there to watch So we went there and we got VIP access Where we were sharing tables and rooms with NB players So we said why not go there So we went to Abu Dhabi So we went there like this And after going to Abu Dhabi, we explored a lot of places there
Yash Pardeshi
which is not available to anyone as early as we are in the Allin zoo that is a private zoo and there are animals there safari is one type so that is a very big area in acres, in many acres so there are animals in each part so there are giraffes, lions, rhinos and many more animals so in safari, once you enter the safari they open the shade of the car from the top and they give you some veggies
which you can feed the ostrich and giraffe there so in that, the legit giraffe will come inside your legit car to eat if you show them so it was a whole new experience and we can’t say that they were getting money to create content but it was the same that they were paying you well to experience Abhidhabh Abhudhabh and they were giving you a lot of luxury treatment so very few people get these chances
But the lucky ones are the ones who get the chance to experience this. And when we went from India, we were going with 3 players. One of them was me, one of them was my friend and one of them was Ranveer Singh. So when we went to watch the NBA match, we went with Ranveer Singh. 3 players were selected from India. And Ranveer Singh is the ambassador of NBA India. So that’s it.
Vineet
Very cool, very cool. So on this, now what next? What have you thought? Because you obviously want to do at least photography, videography full time. I have made this clear. So what have you thought? What have you thought? Like what, what
Yash Pardeshi
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, there was a doubt but it was cleared.
Yash Pardeshi
Yeah, so this is a different story of music concert. So basically I wanted to do it from the beginning but I was not getting the route from where to start. And there was a friend of mine who asked me for shoots 3-4 times. So I refused because the budget was being issued or something was being issued. So this time I was shooting but the dates were also being clashed. So I had already shot a lot of events in Mumbai in concerts. But I had never posted it so people didn’t know that I was doing this side as well.
Recently I did a tour with an MC Stan, he is a very well known rapper and you can say he is a celebrity too, he was a big boss winner from then. So I had to do a tour with him and he wanted creative features so I signed on his India tour. I had to do photography, videos and fly the drone as a drone operator and drone pilot. So I took his photos and the photos were unexpected for him and for me too.
because I was shooting for an artist for the first time who I don’t know personally and those who know MC Jan closely he is a very private artist and he doesn’t talk to anyone fast so I don’t know his vision but I have been listening to his songs from a very long time and I knew everything about his zone how he likes pictures and how he should show so I did a tour of him properly and when he posted those photos I got a lot of reach
So I thought that yes, it is potential that I can stand out from people So I started working slowly Then I did Sunbun in 2023 So those pictures came out very good I guess I did it in 2022 and 2023 too I did it in 2022 So I took the pictures like Unexpectedly And the person who hired me liked the photos and their client was Sunbun, they liked the photos too So I went to shoot Sunbun this year too, even my closing shot
which is uploaded on 31st December that closing shot is also uploaded by me and the main artist who is the headliner Hardwell posted my photos so I feel like I stand out that’s why people hire me and I am very useful in concert photography and this is one thing that I have done concert photography and I have done many music videos for many well known artists so that is also one thing
Vineet
No, no, very cool and your concert photography which I have seen on your profile is quite amazing
Yash Pardeshi
But if you can see, I can say that my commercial proper work is not even 5% of 100% It’s barely like 5% 5-10% like max 5-10% And there is a lot of content that I can’t post because of contract issues and confidential issues
Vineet
And Yash, thank you so much. I think we will wrap it here. Fantastic discussion. Learned a lot. And good luck for your next projects. And thank you everyone for tuning in. What if I YouTube, like, share, subscribe, everything. Do it all. Do all of the above. And see you next week.
Yash Pardeshi
yeah haha done
Yash Pardeshi
Done, done, done. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yash Pardeshi
So, so. Yeah, thank you. Bye bye.
Vineet
Thanks, man. Bye.
