A young viewfinder

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I took up photography about one and a half years ago. I’m a photojournalist’s son, so the relationship to photography, cameras, monopods, tripods has always been there. But it was only a hobby until about two years ago, which is when I started seriously thinking about it.
I was interested in wildlife and when I submitted some of my work to Better Photography, I was named “Young Photographer of the Year” in the wildlife category. That made me think about it seriously. From engineering, I shifted my ambitions to photojournalism.
I was a little scared of my surname because it’s a big surname that I have. And I used to think ‘what if I can’t live up to it, then people would say that Mukesh Parpiani (my father) is a legend, par bete mein wo baat nahi hai’. I thought that I should just continue doing what I’m doing and he’ll be proud of me, and that’s all that matters.
Photography for me is about how you portray your perception. To tell a story through every picture. Photojournalism is a responsibility because the next day, the world will see what you saw.
Times are changing now. Running after celebrities is the new trend and you have to move with the times. The industry won’t accept me unless I do these things. Shooting Lakme Fashion Week 2011 was basically an experiment. When I was sitting there with 50 other photojournalists, I wanted to capture not just the model alone, or the clothes or setting. My aim was to capture the whole aura when a model walks in. If a person sees the picture, he or she should feel like they were at LFW.
I found the hustle and bustle backstage really interesting. Till the final moment, they are doing touch-ups for the models, trying to duct tape their dresses in place. You can almost touch the tension. There would be three people tending to one model. It’s a miracle every time they walk out on stage. I never thought I’d be able to shoot backstage. They would keep checking my pass, saying, “He’s a kid, he can’t be a mediaperson!”
It’s a race to get each picture. And photojournalists can be noisy and indisciplined. But when they come together, they eat together, they sit together. They bond so well. It’s moving in a way because in the real world, they are all competitors. It really was amazing to share space with some of the most experienced photographers in the industry.
— Kashish’s work has been published by several newspapers.
As told to Rohini Nair