Portrait for the Global Indian Series - Rajan Nazran - 2020

Portrait of Rajan Nazran - for The Global Indian Series - 2020

I have had the pleasure to get to know Rajan over the last year or so and I was happy to help him with the portraits he needed for a couple of projects he has going on.

When I arrived at his home I was greeted by a man who I knew is very well travelled, confident and loves a chat. What was quite unusual is that he seemed relaxed and very excited to be having his portraits made - this is often not the case with most people.

Rajan was dressed in a black suit, open topped light blue shirt but had no shoes or socks on. This can be quite normal when you are only shooting a headshot or a 3 quarter length portrait for someone at their home. I was just glad he was wearing trousers!

After getting all the equipment inside I started to set up the studio; lights, stands, camera, backdrop etc. It was at this point that his lovely wife offered me a fresh coffee and as always, you get asked if you want it black or white, with or without sugar etc. But she asked if I wanted it with vanilla essence?

Now, I love a story - which for me is usually in the form of photos rather than words - but I do love a story.

Or in this case a back story… Back stories can make an ordinary story have meaning and are more memorable. This is helpful when I’m shooting corporate events and to use story telling shots in the final set of images. You can see some examples of corporate events here.

When I get asked if I want a coffee, it’s usually followed up with more questions like; do you want milk? Sugar? Cup, mug, strong or weak?

But I can’t recall ever being asked if I wanted vanilla in my coffee. Me being me I had to ask more about it. His wife then told me the story of how and when they acquired it. It turns out they were in the Dominican Republic and bought it off a farmer - he poured it like draft beer straight into this bottle for them - as fresh as it can be. This wasn’t one of those tiny yet expensive little bottles you can pick up from the local supermarket, it was a large plastic bottle full of dark liquid.

It did make the fresh mug of coffee (strong with milk, no sugar) taste very nice and yes, I did buy one of those very small yet very expensive bottles of vanilla on the way home that day - and no it doesn’t seem to taste the same… But then again it hasn’t got the backstory.

Portrait of Rajan Nazran - Nazran Roth - 2020

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It was a pleasure to photograph Rajan in his home and we managed to shoot a good selection of images for him to choose from.

Rajan is a 2nd generation British Indian. He is an experienced journalist with his work featuring in the likes of TIME Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, Fortune and now exclusively with the Indian Express Group.

I did say that Rajan loves to chat and I also said I love stories…

For the last 15 years Rajan has travelled to over 50 countries taking on some of the biggest conversations, covering stories from around the world. His journey has taken him to the edges of the Amazon Rainforest, battling against hurricanes of the Caribbean, being taken hostage in Eastern Europe and facing Ebola in West Africa.

With all the stories he has from around the world, I had to ask him where he got his bracelets from.

His eyes lit up and with keen interest he told me the silver one on his right arm is a Sikh bracelet called a Kara. The others on his left arm are from St. Lucia, Malaysia & India and the FIT-BIT was from Curry’s - PC world, London.

Meeting new people and telling their stories with my photographs is so much fun and a wonderful job to have.

Let me chat with you about your next big project.

Have you just started your new dream job, or begun the first steps to being self employed or have you had your old photograph too long and it’s time to show the world that you have matured.

If you or your staff need a headshot or portrait for their new profiles - get in touch.

If you would like to discuss your story and book your portrait get in touch with me - details below.

See my BLOG on Headshots - “Do we all need a professional headshot or portrait?”