Nimble-fingered, they both yield magic with their brushstrokes. The same fingers which capture stunning frames too, making them the favourite men at most fashion shoots! Make-up artists Mainak Das and Prasenjit Biswas tell t2 about their love for photography.
How long have you been passionate about photography?
Mainak: I love this question, because it doesn’t have to be a boring numerical answer and allows me to share a bit of myself. Photography has been a part of my heart since I started travelling. I have one vivid memory of a hot summer day at a place in India, stretched across the grass and posing with my friend for a few shots for point-and-shoot pictures. I nervously asked if I could try taking some photos, and when my friend said yes, I eagerly grabbed my phone and turned it from its natural landscape to portrait orientation, which apparently was a pretty impressive move for my age because it garnered a few laughs from my friend.
So, technically, I have been “doing photography” for five years. Looking back on my journey to where I am today is a bit overwhelming, because I’m still the person sending my work to my friend to see what she thinks (really!) but I’m also completely convinced that I have found my calling in photography.
Prasenjit: It’s very hard to define a timeline. I think I have been passionate about photography even before I started out as a make-up artist.
What does photography mean to you?
Mainak: To me, photography is a way of capturing emotions. It’s just my way of manipulating my world into a mood or vision I have for it. Photography is my artistic outlet. With a press of the shutter, I can capture how I feel about a specific moment. A fragment of time trapped on my sensor. It gives me satisfaction to create the memory.
Photography for me is not about itself. It’s about everything else. It’s about who we are, our experiences, our influences, our connections with people, with things, with music, with family, with life, with everything. I like the idea that my life can be not just one thing, but it can be many things. A photograph can make me happy or sad, but the most important thing is, a photograph can help overcome sadness also.
Prasenjit: Photography doesn’t just mean clicking the pictures of things/people that just merely exist. For me photography means capturing the presence of all things around me, people I meet and interact with. It’s my way of respecting the presence and aura of all things.
What do you look for in a picture?
Mainak: I basically look for a story. I believe every picture has a story. It can be a story of a person, the mood of that person…. Actually it’s full of emotions. Photography is all about the emotion and the theme.
Prasenjit: I look for definition and correlation in a picture. Definition of the subject captured and correlation of the subject to its background, that helps to enhance the thought of the image further.
What phone do you click with?
Mainak: iPhone 10. There is zero editing in my pictures.
Prasenjit: OnePlus.
Prasenjit and his captures
Sourced by the correspondentYour profession is all about beauty. When you are capturing a moment, does the definition of beauty change?
Mainak: My profession is beauty but photography makes me perfect. I click the picture during make-up and after that. Through the photography beauty becomes a story which defines a theme, an emotion and expression.
Prasenjit: Beauty is a relative word. My idea of beauty is different from many others. Beauty to me means reflection of one’s soul. Beauty is how one adapts to its surroundings and embraces it to enhance ones’ own qualities.
Who have been your muses?
Mainak: Lee Jeffries. I love his black-and-white images. Manny Librodo, the ‘Photoshop wizard’. Other than that, there’s Mario Testino, Steven Meisel, Annie Leibovitz, they all are my muses.
Prasenjit: My family and all the people that I have had the opportunity to work with have been my muses. My mother, sister and all the artists, models have been my muses.
What do you like clicking most?
Mainak: I like to click portraits, because the beauty of portrait photography is that it allows you to capture a subject’s personality.
Prasenjit: There is nothing in particular as such. I, however, love to capture my work. It can be fashion or bridal make-up. I get a deep satisfaction when I can successfully depict and enhance the personality of an individual through my brushes.
Who are your favourite photographers?
Mainak: Prabuddha Dasgupta, Bikramjit Bose, Tarun Vishwa… they all are my favourite photographers.
Prasenjit: Errikos Andreou, Desiree Mattsson.
What is your photography dream?
Mainak: I generally capture moments in my phone but one day I really want to take a DSLR and roam around the world to capture the beautiful jewels like midnight sun of Norway, the beauty of an ocean, hills, snowfall… from different corners of the world. It’s a dream to capture every fragment of magic around the world.
Prasenjit: I aspire and dream to solely picture my models and brides in a way that I can show the world how I perceive them in my mind. I want everyone to see what I see when I visualise my finished work.
