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Aishani Chatterjee
@Aishani · 1:08
On Visual Storytelling:In Conversation with Photographer Mohit Tiwari
And she might be guilty of revisiting it more than once. I would like to extend a very warm welcome to a special guest, Mohit Davari. Welcome, Mohit. Well, diving right into my first question to you, then, when did you know you wanted to tell stories with images instead of words? Was there some pivotal event that made you choose what you do
Mohit Tiwari
@mohitkrtiwari · 1:17
Hi. So thank you so much for that beautiful and amazing introduction. I hope you're doing well. About the photography part was always interested in filmmaking, and it's a long process. Like, for filmmaking, you either start as a writer or photographer just to get an idea how to use the camera in order to tell your story. And for me, it started with camera and I started with photography, and it was a journey for me
Aishani Chatterjee
@Aishani · 0:24
Well, that's a really beautiful trajectory, really the way you started out, just kind of experimenting with the camera, trying to explore yourself and aiming at telling stories, which you do, by the way, with your photographs, what visual references do you draw upon in your work and where do you draw inspiration from
Mohit Tiwari
@mohitkrtiwari · 1:01
So it all depends what kind of shoots I'm looking for. Like, the very first conceptual shoot that I did was around 2000 or 19. Yeah. And that was a really personal shoot because through that, it was my way of coming out. And it was inspired from a music video by Troy Savannah. So for me, it's like all the inspiration that I get, they are mostly from cinema or music or whatever I consume through them
Aishani Chatterjee
@Aishani · 0:27
So basically, it's art, inspiring art. Right. And just for the record, back in 20, 19, 20, 20. Troy Sivan was definitely one of the top artists in my playlist. So, yeah, Mohit, what would you Say According to you is the most memorable story that you captured on film
Mohit Tiwari
@mohitkrtiwari · 1:09
Yeah. I mean, Troy Sivan, he is amazing. I love his work so much. But personally, for me, the most personal story that I captured or the one that that I still love the most is the one I mentioned before, this series called Kiss Me on the Mouth and Set Me Free. And I was in College, and I wasn't out yet. And it was before 377 got decriminalized. And there was this picture of two guys kissing each other in a public park
Aishani Chatterjee
@Aishani · 0:51
Kudos to you for that, Mohit. It was indeed a very brave thing to do. I can only imagine the apprehension that you must have felt because we all know that the scenario was is very different. I mean, we still have a long way to go, but today people are a lot more sensitized regarding the LGBTQIA plus community. But back then it was really very different. And yes, it is indeed a very special shoot. Portraiture and Still Life merge most obviously in your works
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Mohit Tiwari
@mohitkrtiwari · 1:23
I started out with street photography and I tried to document everything I could. And with time I branched out to other types of photography, including portraits. I remember of why I stick to portrait. I think it's because my work started got featured on various magazines and in a way it boosted my confidence. And then I started experimenting with more intimacy and emotion. I wanted to portray it from my work and it was heavily inspired from the type of cinema I consumed during that time
Aishani Chatterjee
@Aishani · 0:34
That's amazing. And what you said about being true to your emotions, I think that's something which is the very core essence of being an artist, really in whatever field it be. Okay. So my last question to you is where do you think the future of photography is headed? I know this is very unpredictable, but where do you see the chance going
Mohit Tiwari
@mohitkrtiwari · 0:59
Indeed. As you said, things are pretty unpredictable. I have no idea what things are going to be like next to you, but I don't know exactly what things are going to be be in future. But what I can hope and expect is I want more representation from every part of life, including more queer artists, more female representation. I want to see more female director, more female cinematographer, more female scriptwriter, as well as square script, writer, artist, cinematographer
Aishani Chatterjee
@Aishani · 1:20
It was really enlightening and it was an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much. And all the best for all your future endeavors. Hoping to see and literally waiting to see more of you on Instagram on Swell. Also, if you can time and again, just maybe share your tidbits here. So by good night, everyone. Signing off and opening the platform for the questions or queries by our users. Thank you. Bye