Fashion and commercial photographer Pravin Talan not only captures beautiful images, but has a way with words too. He recently shot images for his calendar at Taj Mahal with supermodels in outfits by Tarun Tahiliani, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Anand Kabra, Anamika Khanna and Rohit Bal.
Pravin says, “There is something truly magical about Taj and its timeless beauty that touches a chord with both love and loneliness inside you. Padma Sri Fazal Mohammad showed me an exquisite thread painting of Taj Mahal that he took five long years to complete and still rests in his small house at Lohamandi, Agra. He could never sell it, as the world didn’t offer the price for it that it deserved. Shooting at Taj would have remained a dream if I had not met Amrit Abhijat and Asim Arun, two officials at Agra who shared the same vision of presenting Taj Mahal in a new way to the world as part of Taj Mahotsav and then lucky part was to get the warm support from Archaeological Survey of India, which is currently celebrating its 150 years. This is a non-commercial project and images will be freely made available worldwide. ‘With Love From Taj’ is a multi-dimensional project aimed at creating memorabilia to promote arts, crafts, culture and tourism; bringing together on a single platform India’s leading artists and artisans who have in their works some element or inspiration drawn from Taj; creating awareness about, and promoting the exquisite craftsmanship that has for centuries flourished in small lanes and bylanes of Agra city — whether it’s the intricate marble inlay work, the fine zardozi or carpet weaving. The calendar featuring the designers’ creations is just one part of it. I have also shot various craftsmen from the city.”
Pravin adds that his images were consciously shot to not look like fashion shots. He says, “It was created for love of a woman, hence the central subject had to remain that. The biggest challenge was to maintain equilibrium between the women, designers’ creations and the Taj Mahal, so that the impact of none was lost. Very careful selection of the designers was made whose outfits were traditional yet grand and would not be lost in the grandeur of Taj Mahal.”
Pravin’s favourite images are of a model draped in an Anand Kabra sari staring at the reflection of the Taj in the central tank, abd another of a model in an Anamika Khanna outfit casually strolling by the intricate jali work façade of the white marble platform.
“One of the first pages in the calendar has a model wearing a stunning Rohit Bal creation, sitting gracefully right across the monument — the fine blue peacock embellishments so gorgeously stand out against the white marble,” he shares.
However, it can’t be all easy to shoot this most clicked monument, Pravin reveals he faced many challenges while shooting.
He says, “It’s perhaps the world’s most photographed monument and yet I had to find something that had not been shot before. I studied almost every available image of Taj on Net and also thoroughly studied the tourist inflow and then had to find empty spaces, explore unseen views of Taj and understand the available lighting at the monument, and then conceive shots that would be a fitting tribute to this living-breathing monument and present it in a new way. I must have made as many as 10 visits to Taj Mahal to eventually figure out 15 shots that could have been done without disturbing or getting disturbed by the tourists at the monument.”