‘The streets of Chennai are my inspiration’

How did you move into street photography?  

I have been a photographer in the advertising space for a decade, dabbling in fashion and product photography. But after a point I realised it was mundane and it wasn’t exactly my calling. In addition, my health was not permitting me to carry out the high pressure, deadline-bound work. I decided to quit one fine day and took to the streets. They have been a great source of inspiration. Every moment there is something interesting happening, that is worth capturing. 

Do the streets of Chennai give you a lot of subjects?  

Yes, absolutely. The first thing that hit me when I ventured out was that the people I interacted with on the streets were way happier than I was. They have so little in life and yet manage to smile. I found that images existed somewhere in between conversations with them. 

I have two exhibitions as part of the Chennai Photo Biennale — Beyonder, where I capture the realm beyond the perception of the human eye and Observations of a Time Traveller, it is a series of 12 photos that show how all of us travel through time to create a bank of collective consciousness.