There are a lot of talented photographers in Vancouver, but there isn’t that much work. So Martin Prihoda decided to split town in 2008 and try his luck elsewhere.
Most people in his shoes go to Toronto, New York or Los Angeles. But Prihoda looked further afield: Mumbai, India.
“I thought the whole Bolly-wood glitzy-glammy thing might work for me,” says Prihoda. “I thought they might appreciate my work over there. So we just picked up on a whim; We didn’t know anybody, we just went.”
It seemed like a long shot. Pri-hoda’s heritage is Czech, not Indian. He didn’t speak Hindi. He’d only been to India once, as a backpacker, and had scant knowledge of the Bollywood film scene he wanted to break into.
He pounded the pavement for three months before a designer hired him to shoot Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra, a former Miss World who was setting up a website.
The photos turned out great, and provided the entrée he needed.
“The key to breaking into Bollywood is getting your first couple of celebrities,” explains Prihoda.
“The whole system over there, the entire scene, revolves around A-list, B-list celebrities. Once you get those people in your portfolio, doors open up for you because you’ve shot that level.”
Soon he found himself shooting celebrities for the Indian editions of magazines such as Vogue, GQ, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, OK! and Harper’s Bazaar.
“It’s a huge market, there’s a billion people, and everything revolves around the celebrity, and celebrity endorsements,” he says.
“It’s not like here. Let’s take an actor like Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt will do movies, but you won’t see him pitching for [something like] Sport Mart. He’ll do that stuff in Japan, but not here.
“Over in India, a star will do a movie, and they’ll [also] do Sport Mart. These guys are all brand ambassadors for some-thing, so you wind up shooting all these brands with these celebrity stars. The editorial stuff gets you into advertising, where the money is.”
It’s an interesting system. “I might only make a couple of hundred bucks a day shooting for Vogue, whereas advertising stuff, if I’m producing the job, you’ll make thousands, 10 times what you make in editorial,” he relates.
“The thing is, all the advertising agencies read these magazines, and see your name. That’s why it’s important to shoot that stuff; A lot of people shoot it for free. It’s just great shooting with [the magazines], because you’re shooting the top stars for the top magazines. It’s kind of a photographer’s dream.”
Of course, he didn’t really know who many of his celebrity subjects were when he first got to India.
“Four months in, I [got] a cover shoot for GQ,” he says. “I said ‘Who is it?’ They said ‘Hrithik Roshan.’ I said ‘Great, super, Hrithik Roshan.’ So I told a friend I’m shooting this guy Hrithik Roshan and they’re like ‘Are you serious? He’s the top Bollywood star!’ I had to google him.”
The fact that he’s unfamiliar with many of his subjects can work to his advantage.
“[Bollywood stars] love working with foreign photographers, because foreign photographers don’t really know who they are. So you can talk to them, you don’t get all star-struck. Whereas if you were shooting DeNiro it might be ‘Wow, I’m shooting DeNiro.’” A good example would be a recent shoot with cricket star Virat Kohli for Christian Dior and OK! magazine.
GD Star Rating
loading...
GD Star Rating
loading...
Article source: http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/move-guide/From+Bollywood+with+love/6999397/story.html
QR code : Scan via your mobile QR reader
Source:
http://blog.godesi.com/from-bollywood-with-love/
via The News from http://celebritiessplit.blogspot.com