Spring '10 Shoot

I’ve been complaining a lot of late and feeling annoyed with small problems that every business faces. I’ve been letting it get to me too, taking my frustration out on those around me and feeling resentful (“how could the world let this happen to me?”) But in truth, I am so unbelievably lucky: lucky that I had my parents’ support to start my own business, lucky to have found some amazing staff at my production unit who understand creativity and quality, lucky to have a patient and kind husband who has faith in what I do, and lucky to have come so far in a tough industry. I think if you can find something you love doing, and it pays you well, you have to consider yourself very fortunate. I’m still working on the “pays you well” part, but I know it’s not far away, and in the meanwhile I have people helping me on my journey.

Suchitra Karthik Kumar, a radio show host and singer, was at my store shopping a few months ago and we started chatting about my website and the collection photos. A few conversations later she offered to model for Brass Tacks! I was flattered, and it's always great to have someone who understands Brass Tacks to model because they immediately feel comfortable in the clothes. Plus having a well-known singer like Suchi model can only help publicize my brand. Suchi also put me on to Joseph Daniel, a commercial photographer in Chennai, and Joe spent a lot of time with me trying to understand the concept behind my brand and the inspiration behind the Spring 2010 collection.

As always I wanted an outdoor feel for the creative shots, and I remember visiting theVastrakala office sometime last year and thinking how great it would be for a photoshoot. I ran into the director, Sandeep, who is also my parents’ neighbor, a couple of weeks before the shoot and asked him if we could shoot there. His office gave us a huge room to work from and we got to shoot in their gorgeous garden.

I love when things fall into place like that. Organizing everything took a lot of time and effort, but in the end it worked out. I have to say though, I can’t wait for the day when I can just hire someone to execute my creative ideas. Making those paper props took forever, and being accommodating of everyone's tastes and opinions during a shoot isn't easy either. In the end the creative shots with the props didn’t quite turn out like I had envisioned, but I am really happy with them. In any case you can never really force an image during a photo shoot.

I made this paper "stole" out of paper shapes that folded into squares, and used colours that complemented the ikat colours on the dress.

The cubes I made were used as earrings in this shot. I wish I had managed to make these origami shoulder-pad-looking things out of paper, but they just didn't turn out well.

The cubes I had intended for juggling didn't make a great "fashion shot", so for this outfit we didn't end up using a prop at all.