APRIL : Construction Worker :
This Profession was picked to display the intensity of the construction worker to work all day, irrespective of the conditions and temperature. Even this shot was taken around 2 pm in an under construction site which you can see in the backdrop. The dupatta was rolled around her arms to add a bit of traditional touch. The pole on the left-hand side worked as a balancing element. Did you notice that small pigeon on the top of that pole? 😉
Shoe Shiner / Cobbler:
This was the first idea which leads us to work on the theme PROFASHION. The idea was to display the intensity of the shoe shiner /cobbler while polishing someone’s shoes. While the earlier idea was to show that the cobbler was shining the shoe of another man but at the last moment, we made the change of adding a girl with the heels instead. The tie was put on his forehead indicating his tiring day at the job as he tried to loosen up. The Shot was taken around 5:30 pm in the evening, we were lucky to get the direct soft natural spotlight light on the face of the cobbler.A Reflector and one light at low intensity were used to minimize the shadows.
Mechanic :
We have already seen, So many shots based on this profession with elements like Grease, dust etc. We were able to find that Giant , one of the first ambassador of 1950’s. We had the conversation with its owner for like an year back for a shoot which didn’t happen. Luckily while figuring out the location and the characters, that vintage car and the character of mechanic came into our mind. .Our stylist Prathmesh added a bit of Arabic element in the shot with Mr. Button’s Waistcoat and Shorts. Earlier the idea was to take the shot with open bonnet. But as there was no battery in the car we have to push it from the front, Our model Suhail joined us in this. Looking at that frame from onlookers perspective, here comes the idea of the new shot for the mechanic which can be seen in the calendar.
Vegetable Seller:
One more profession whom we overlook in our daily routine. With vegetable around the model, we wanted this shot to look
colorful. Though we wanted to do this shot on some roadside vegetable market. But with the crew of 7 members and a model, it was difficult to do this in public place during the rush hours of the evening. We managed to get the no. of a vegetable seller whom we saw on the way after doing the shot of the cobbler. We wanted to do it in the daytime. Unluckily the vegetable seller was not picking up our phone. By the time we managed to bring another vegetable seller it was like completely dark. So we modified
our day concept into a night concept and took it almost at the same place where we took the shot of the cab driver. Rather than pushing the thela, We made Our model Pragati Pandey sit and pose with the vegetable basket.
Barber :
Here come the profession which requires a good amount of focus and concentration on the subject while doing his job. We did this shot in A salon where we told to complete it within 20 minutes including light setup, framing and all. Which created a bit of hustle in our mind, because of the earlier shot ( which was the shot of the maid took 2 hours). Not experimenting too much with the lighting we thought to take it in flat lighting. We tried 3 concepts, in the first shot, our model Rahul Jagtap sir was playing the character of the barber and Somita as one of the customer.in other shots two, we reversed the role. We took one shot with foam and one without foam. Looking at the expression and sync of both the models we finalized the shot which was taken without foam. The intention of this shot is to keep the public confused: weather she is shaving or killing him with his ustraa 😉
Cook :
One More Profession which we did indoor. We were having so many ideas to do with this profession. But the problem was that we wanted the front look of the model with the flame and pan.So rather than taking side angle and taking this shot with kitchen shelf, we used a table where we kept the stove. The problem which now arose was that the wall was not getting related to the kitchen ambiance ( and there was not much of kitchen ambiance available at the location ). We used the artificial smoke to keep the wall smoky and to get more focus on our model. Mallika played very well with that pan and gave us like 3 shots with the required expressions. But because the wall was visible in other two shots. We choose the one, in which it is almost hazy.
MAY : Painter:
We have Seen Many Actors/Actress playing the character of a painter in various Ads and also endorsing them. But in the real world, it’s not so easy to sustain in this profession. Which became the reason to pick this profession for our calendar shoot. We had a painted wall at our studio which we used as a backdrop. Studio wall was painted by us only because of which all the related props were already with us and. Keeping the face of Our Model Palak clean, we applied only a bit of paint on her arms. The shot which we selected was the last shot, of around 30 minutes session we had for implementing that concept. Did you notice the placement of her hand? We were already having a hand-printed in red paint on the wall, above which she placed her hand so as to make it appear as her own.
Security Guard:
This character attracted us because of their determination to work on a hot day and chilling nights. The earlier idea was
to portray the security guard within his cabin handing over the Entry Notebook which would be a small and tight frame,emphasizing more
on his face . We thought to take it as a backup shot. But because of hot weather and people coming in between the shot we didnt take the backup shot.Ishaan did it well and helped us to rescue the scorching heat, We got the required shot in hardly 5-10 minutes after light setup.
Car Washer :
Every morning before you leave for office/ work, we look at the car and remembers this character for his work. That ambassador again came into play which sorted of our problem of finding the car for car washer concept. We had already used the front close up of this car for the mechanic shot and now the idea was to get a different frame with this shot. Rather then standing and cleaning the car. We decided to made our Model Anushka Sit on the car’s bonnet while posing with one hand and using the other hand for washing car. It was A time-consuming shoot as after every 5-10 seconds our crew members have to apply some foam on the car again and again.
Maid :
This was the first shot of the 3 Day long shoot. We wanted to do some shots indoor, also to add a bit of variation to our calendar shoot.
Maid is like the first professional character whom we meet in daily routine. We had a black cocktail dress from Cupid Stores for this shot. We wanted to make the character look more intense, with that black costume. Instead of using
flat lighting we created a spotlight type effect for this shot. Which obviously increased the size our frame, as we wanted the black area at the edges which we created via lighting. The door element was added to give it a look of home (while we were excluding it earlier). Did you notice that wire and plug near the door? Which we kept intentionally 😉
Cab Driver :
The Idea of the cabbie is also inspired from our daily routine. He not only drives a car but does so much for his master. We got too late for this shot and were thinking about the backdrop where we could possibly do the shot. Earlier the idea was to take the shot in front of some big commercial building/mall. But while we were leaving the parking for this. We could see the drama of the sunset. Hence we decided to do it parking itself. To add some darkness and intensity in the shot, spotlight type lighting was used. Mohan Mistry did the justice to the shot (though he was tired and came all the way from Lavasa after completing his other shoot ).
News Paper Assembler :
Its one of the rare profession which we choose for our calendar shoot and yes, we have to explain this profession to many people. We had witnessed this character while having an early morning tea around kothrud from where we got the idea. This was one of the most difficult shot to execute, in a way that people can understand what he is doing.No, he is not selling newspaper! Though we wanted to this shot in the night with ambiance light of the street, looking at the overall feasibility and timing constraints we decided to this shot in the terrace where we had lots of disturbance from the wind. We decided to put some weight on newspaper which was there in the shot, got removed later in post-processing. For the shot, the newspaper was held in the air by Atul showing that he is assembling it in a bundle.And yes Ishaan ( our security ) is in the background rolling the assembled newspaper. He was kept there in the frame (blurred ) to fill the frame from one side and in a way relates to the subject.