Bilgrami has shot many successful campaigns in the UAE and India.
Links to Nader Bilgrami’s work:
https://www.behance.net/naderbilgrami
https://vimeo.com/user21771021
When did you get interested in photography?
I got interested in photography 23 years ago by a friend of mine who was a photographer and he actually introduced me to the art. Asked me to come down to the studio. I had just finished college and I was not doing anything. He said come down, get into the studio, see what we are doing, and that was it. The minute I walked into the studio, I fell in love .
How would you describe your style?
I think my work is a lot of lighting based with mood. I bring in a lot of techniques created with lot of static movements, but I try to capture expressions within that frame. That’s what I try to achieve.
What makes a great photographer?
Techniques. You have to learn your techniques. If you learn your techniques, you are untouchable.
Which subject appeals to you the most?
People. I love people.
What lessons have you learnt on the way?
I think, never be happy with what you create, because there always more. That is one thing I have learnt. Never be satisfied with what you’ve done.
Any memorable experience?
So many. We were going to shoot three hours away from Mumbai, in a place called Alibaug. We got into an accident. We had a head on collision with a bus, came out of the car, went to the location, shot the images, went back home and I passed out. That was like the worst, because client is putting the money on a campaign, you have to deliver. Accident or no accident, if you say no, the clients lose money and they lose trust in you so we literally had to go and finish the shoot and go back home. And I was in pain, like complete body was in pain, but we had to do it. The producer and the art director were also with me in the car.
What gear would you find in your kit bag?
I think you only need one lens, that’s my opinion and a camera that you think Is decent enough.
On your holidays?
I don’t carry my camera as changing lenses is an issue. I found the two bags very bulky to carry. If I see something nice I shoot with my iPhone. I’m a photographer so when I’m on holiday I do shoot much.
Which camera do you use?
For my personal use I use Canon 1EOS-1Ds Mark ii 2 which is 16 megapixels. It’s a very old camera but I actually like it. It gives me the work flow that I need and that’s personal. But when it comes to client ‘s work, we obviously go into high end cameras, the 5D Mark 4. We have to keep ourselves updates from the Hasselblad.
Do you own a Hasselblad?
No, no, I always rent out, not investing because every month they come out with new versions. But now the work flow is such that client are Ok about paying for your equipment, which was never the case before. But I still have Hasselblad, Sinar p2 4×5 (large format front view camera), which I use for my own personal work. I still have fridge full of film, 8×10 film, you know I still have it.
In Dubai where do you get your film from?
These are all collected. Nothing is available in Dubai so if I find 8×10 somewhere I actually order it. So, I still have a collection of film that I use.
Normal 35mm?
Yes, that is available. But you may find it difficult to process them. You still have small labs in India that are still processing. There are 2 in Mumbai and 1 in Delhi. Rest you have in USA. Its quite expensive to send a reel. Black and whites, I still do myself.
So, you have the whole lab setup?
Yea, that’s a $50 setup. It’s not that expensive. Just get your chemical ready and do you black and white as process it yourself. And scanner, obviously you have to invest in a scanner. That’s not expensive. Epsom B700 is like 700 AED and it’s amazing because you can do 8×10 scans on them as well and transparencies scans as well. So, it’s a very cheap setup for yourself.
Film or digital?
I like both. Digital is a good format, it’s how you use it. It’s most convenient.
Which photographers have influenced your work or you draw inspiration from?
Paolo Roversi, he does a lot of work on Polaroid’s. 8×10 Polaroids and stuff. He does lot of lighting techniques, light brush and stuff like that. I love his work. Salgado. I like Erwin Olaf . Now Erwin Olaf is on the levels of how you can make a montage, a digital montage, how he does it. You know he uses different images and he puts them together but he chooses everything. His lighting matches to the smallest detail. That’s the amount of pain that he goes through. I love his work.
Which lens do you find yourself using more often? And why?
I use a 24-70 Canon lens 2.8 it’s a faster lens. It’s the most convenient. I get wide, mid.
How do you educate yourself in order to take better pictures?
I study man, I still study. I go online, I start looking at everybody’s work. I start breaking it down technically, what they’ve used, you know why they did it, why did they tone it that way? why did they grade it that way? Why was the lighting done this way? You know, what was the mood behind it? What was the thought behind it? I still study.
Among your works, which one is your favourite?
I favourite I think is the Fashion Harvest campaign for Shoemart . We have actually changed the style of work in Dubai. This is mid 2000’s . It was in the 200 best photographers worldwide. So, I got three years in a row, I had like different work in the archives and that was one of that as well. So that’s my favourite.
What is your opinion about colour and black and white photography?
I love both. Very difficult to differentiate. Some people like black and white, they think it has more depth in it. But to me colour is realistic as well. I actually like both, very difficult to differentiate. You know there is some work I would say, I would like to do in black and white and I end up shooting in colour. Like what we do sometimes we shoot on film as well on colour and then make it black and white, you know just to keep ourselves safe. But the minute you say, I want to shoot that in black and white and you convert and you don’t like it. See actually lot of photographers like black and white because again its old school, you know what I mean, that’s how you were introduced to photography, right. But in my era, I was introduced to black and white and colour, both. So, for me, I love both. Some things work better in black and white and some things in colour.
How do you feel about photographing the same subject again? Is it different from the first time?
Every time its different. This industry will always make you do new things every day. That’s the best part about it. Your work flow is different every day. A 9-5 desk job you will get bored because its monotonous, but with advertising, with photography, with filmmaking, its different. You learn new things every day, you do different things every day, you don’t get bored, like literally you don’t get bored. We have crazy deadlines. Shot for 24 hours.
What makes a great photograph?
Again, very difficult to judge because if you try to judge it by execution it’s a different perspective. If you try to look at the technicalities of it, it’s a different perspective. Sometime, people who have an iPhone and have taken a photograph which is amazing. SO actually, there is no set law. As long as a photograph tell you a story its correct. It doesn’t matter, how you used, what equipment you’ve used, have you spent 10 hours trying to capture that shot, it doesn’t matter. You know aperture also doesn’t matter, shutter speed, yeah at times it does matter, but even apertures don’t matter. As long as you get the story going in that photograph that is what it is.
What different angles do you feel are appropriate for photographing a model?
It actually depends on the features of the model. I always try to keep a focus on the eye because the eyes are the one which tell a lot of stories. So, everything else like jaw line, cheekbones how the face is reflecting the light you know and it is looking nice, like visually nice> But the eyes always have to be straight at you because the eyes are the one that actually tell the story. So that is one thing I try to keep in all my portraits. Eyes have to be looking at the lens.
When taking photographs in natural light/outdoors, as most of your photos are taken in natural light, how do you light up the main object?
Outdoors, you reflect, you manipulate sunlight. Indoors, you have to recreate sunlight. Indoors you have the power to create light the way you imagine it. Cos he studio flashes basically replicate daylight. How you place the studio flashes gives you the opportunity to create sunlight in and indoor environment using your imagination. Outdoor, you need to manipulate sunlight by reflecting it. So outdoor it’s a bit flatter. You know you can’t get so much depth, contrast and dramatic shots outdoors, unless you really technically execute it, like closing your aperture down to 32, using filters to darken sunlight, adding flashes which are like so strong that it lights up your subject where you have the daylight being dark and the subject being lit up. So, there are lot of technicalities you can use, but the easiest is manipulate sunlight outdoors with a reflector, create sunlight indoors using your imagination.
When you are taking photographs, what composition choices are suitable for you?
Normally portrait is always vertical but I actually like the 6×7 format that’s vertical, it’s almost rectangular. Outdoors is horizontal, for landscapes even sometimes for people. If there is a group of people sometimes horizontal as well looks nice It depends on how you want to use your background perspective. You know if you have some subjects in the background and elements and you want to not distort that perspective, I would use horizontal at a certain angle perspective looks nice in the background as well and you’ve got a portrait in the middle that adds to the image.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
Don’t let the camera control you, you need to control the camera. That advice was given to me 21 years ago and I still remember that.
What advice would you give to someone like me who is a newcomer to photography?
I would advise you to study the art of photography. What it really is. Why a 100 years ago photography was invented and what was the reason for it? If you learn that, essence of photography and you apply that to your work, you got it correct.