The first time I stumbled upon Aawaari’s picture on Instagram was while scrolling through the explore section in the feed. An orange and white van captured on the Suvali beach of Surat against the background of the over-dramatic skies. A stark coloured object versus an ordinary backdrop, it looked like the person behind the lens knew exactly what she was doing. And the astounding part of the picture was that it was shot on an iPhone. I have an iPhone, then why can’t I click such visuals, was the first thought that came to my mind when I read the caption.
I visited her handle to see more of her work. And after the first impression, I was definitely not let down by the other posts in her feed. A cinematic treat to the sore eyes. I swiped down until I reached the end.
Gopi calls @aawaari her parallel self where she sets herself free and lets her emotions take over, the reason why she has been so particular for choosing her handle name. She did not want a name that described her work, but something that spoke about her as a person.
She is an ambivert just like all of us, makes friends easily but also gets uncomfortable and nervous while meeting new people. Though she is trying really hard to part ways with this habit of hers. Having said that, Gopi is a very private person keeping her work at the forefront. She doesn’t like to indulge in revealing her real self to the world, so to be clear you wouldn’t find her personal pictures on Instagram.
Aawaari has been involved in the art of photography for the past five years but it is only recently that she started taking up professional projects. Her irresistible love and passion for creating aesthetic visuals pushed her to venture into this artistic field. You have a look at her profile and you find that she has worked in various genres- fashion, portraits, food, flatlays. She doesn’t believe in sticking to one of them as she loves to experiment with her art and extend the envelope of her boundaries depending on what her clients expect from her.
But it hasn’t been all hunky-dory right from the beginning. She has had a share of troubles.
Originating from Surat, monetizing her work and bagging projects has been the biggest challenge. And to follow that, she had to work hard to convince her parents and overcome her personal insecurities to reach the position that she is in.
She has been her own teacher. She reads articles and books about creating photos, researches on the internet about visuals and their effects, photography concepts, watches movies with great cinematography and music to inspire and better herself every single time. Everyone around her has inspired her in a way to imagine and execute her ideas and she is grateful about it.
Not all but a majority of the times, Aawaari designs and plans her shoots in prior.
She does the groundwork of imagining and creating a particular visual, subject of photography, the elements and props used, technicalities behind a concept before jumping on to the field. It’s easier that way, she says.
At present, she is interning at Pulpkey and learning the knickknack of influencer marketing under her mentor, Mr Amit.
The good stuff is one of her long-term personal clients. Aawaari has an exceptional liking for speciality coffee and her rapport with the store staff got her on board. Today she is the professional photographer of the good stuff and she credits it entirely to the coffee that they make and the warm vibe that the place creates.
In recent times, Aawaari has been empirical with Flatlays and portraits. Though she decides the mood of her flatlay depending on the brand she is working on and has completed quite a few of them but human subjects are where her soul lies.
She thoroughly enjoys capturing humans as she thinks there is an underlying story to every photograph that she creates.
This takes me to the question about her personal favourites from the myriad of the work that she has done.
She vividly remembers this photo-shoot that she did for a phone brand called Nubia. It was on a monsoon afternoon where the wind behaved in an erratic manner. Her friend who was wearing a backpack and a hat struggled hard to hold the hat in place. That’s when she captured the still from the rear and to her surprise, it turned out to be a fabulous click.
Among her recent works, the suitcase series has to bag the award ( to be honest, that’s my personal favourite as well).
Underwater photography is one of her dream genres where she wants to capture marine life. But it requires expensive gears to shoot so she plans to do it in future. Currently, she is using Canon 700D, along with kit lenses & canon 50mm prime lens. She also uses her iPhone 7plus at times.
But on a parting note, she says that the camera doesn’t make a good picture. Your idea and the way you execute it does. Even the best photograph of hers was captured on the phone. So she insists on persevering to create a good picture and let the rest follow.
Just make a moment timeless, she asserts.
Follow @aawaari on Instagram to see her incredible work.
This article is written by @likhnewali.womaniya. Follow her to read her writings.
Curated by @frameshade. Follow him for his photography work
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