If a picture is worth a thousand words, Sasha Jairam’s work are epics that tell tales worth retelling, one picture at a time
Words by Karan Karayi
Photography can often seem like a bastion of male domination, but for every rule there is always an exception. Sasha Jairam is one of them, a fashion and lifestyle photographer who has made waves in recent years with her eye-catching work.
Perhaps a large part of her success can be attributed to the manner in which she approaches her work, and the lens with which she views it through (pun intended). Reflecting on the essence of her work, she says, “Everyone I meet tells me there’s soul in all my photographs, and they speak volumes. I always feel that when I do anything, it’s with my full heart and soul involved. I somehow see everyone in different vision…my vision mostly. I feel being a tech genius is very textbook, it’s not at all interesting to me. I need to bring out something special of the person that I shoot in my photographs, otherwise it’s just a random photograph with the best lighting involved.”
Jairam, who hails from Shivamogga, did her early education in Bengaluru before moving to London to study further. At the age of 16, she was gifted a camera by her father, and the rest is history, as they say. But every journey has its road bumps, and Sasha was no different. “When I just started getting commercials and ads when I was 21 years old, I had a problem with my camera and I met a guy who was doing the catalogue shoot, and I was shooting the main campaign. I randomly asked him to help me throughout the shoot and set my camera according to vision…and he is my main light man, assistant, and my lifesaver till today. It’s been 6 years, and he’s just everything! His name is Jagan, and I have learnt a lot of technical stuff from him.”
Having pulled off many a shoot, some of which have even gone viral, the lady is hard-pressed to zero in on any one shoot that is closest to her heart. “It is a very tricky one. I have too many, I can’t really think of one, honestly! Closest to my heart must be the one with Maleesha Kharwa, because she’s going to be iconic someday. Her zest to succeed is just so amazing to see at that age, coming from the slums of Mumbai.”
Sasha’s work that you see on these pages are a tiny selection of her vast body of work, but there’s a very good reason she selected these images for our (and your) viewing pleasure. “It’s because these went viral! Everyone in the city were praising my work with these specific images. And they were really close to my heart as I was comfortable with my subjects while I was shooting them…it screams me!”
Individualistic and fiercely driven, Sasha’s going places, and we can’t wait to see where her work takes her next.
