“I never pictured myself holding a camera. 6 years back, when my friends or their parents asked me what I wanted to do after graduation, I used to tell them that I’ll probably get married or do a one year course in fashion designing and then get married.

I come from a typical Gujrati family where girls aren’t allowed to work or to sit on chairs when there are men in the room. In fact, we are supposed to wear the pallu over their heads around elders. We are not allowed to wear dresses. I grew up watching all of this, thus, my dreams were also limited accordingly. Until one day, when a senior of mine got a camera and clicked my pictures. I was surprised at how one can capture emotions in a picture.
I used to live in a joint family of 15 members and my dad is the strictest of them all. So strict, that everytime he would walk into the house, everyone would go quiet. He always told me that he wouldn’t give me the freedom that my uncle had given his daughters. But by then, photography had my heart. One day I came across a post which said that they were hiring photographers. I thought let’s give it a try because why not. That’s when I started convincing my dad for a camera but he said no. In 2014, my cousins gifted me a small camera and I took it everywhere with me. After which, I submitted those pictures to the hiring agency where they said that they are looking for someone to capture the emotions of people. I started to try and convince my father again for a proper camera. He still continued to say no. It was then that my uncle, Lalit Patel, gifted me a beautiful camera. I promised myself that in a year, I would repay the money for the camera because I knew my capability. I didn’t touch the camera for a month because it was scary, expensive. But one day, I got a call from a mutual friend who asked me to come along for a shoot with him. I tagged along and I continued to do so for a long time. I learnt a lot. One fine morning, I got a parcel from Amazon. It was a camera lens which I never ordered. Later I find out that the friend I was tagging along with had sent it to me as a gift and six years later, I still use that lens.
My mother used to come along with me to my shoots because that is the only way I would be allowed to go for them. She was a huge support system for me during that time.

Today, I’m an established wedding photographer. I give my 100% everytime no matter what is happening in my life because my clients trust me to capture their most important days and I cannot ruin it for them. Being a female photographer is not easy, I agree. Because the taunts can sometimes get too much to handle but it is definitely not impossible. To me, photography is life changing and the learning and my passion for it will never change.”

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