Spunk and Colour - Meenakshi Pamnani

It started out in the early months of 2016 when I conceptualised and decided to document and chart the journey of fashion prominent women bloggers in Hyderabad. I knew some of these bloggers personally and I reached out to a couple more and received the warmest reception from them. The plan did hit a bump (pun intended) when I found out I was pregnant but I did meet the bloggers over coffee and they were ever so sweet about sharing their stories with me. This blog is the second in the series.

Meet Meenakshi Pamnani!
My connection to this fashion blogger is more personal than professional. She started her blogging journey back in December 2014 and that is also the time when I started shooting for her blogs. My association with 'The Shimmer Girl' has been the longest with our mutual obsession over glitter, sequin and chocolates. The Shimmer Girl aka Meenakshi Pamnani is all of 21 years old but she is on her way to making a mark in the Hyderabad fashion blogging scene. 

What started out as a hobby turned into a passion for this blogger. Meenakshi was already a celebrity of sorts when she set out to become a fashion blogger. A national level athlete with a prominent social media presence, she was already a celebrity of sorts when she discovered her love for all things fashion and beauty. Her style is all about colour and shimmer, something she feels very passionate about. 

From being a part time blogger to turning a full time fashion writer and adviser, she now directs style and fashion related content for a number of lifestyle websites. 

Now happily married to cricketer Ravi Teja, Meenakshi has a lot of new posts and collaborations in the pipeline for her viewers along with a stream of exciting videos on her channel.

Here are some of my favourite shots of Meenakshi from our past collaborations:

You can follow her blog here and her YouTube channel here

Throwback to the first post in the photo series where I photograph and chat with some significant women personalities and bloggers in the city - Quiet and Fierce: Chandana Munipalle

SMILE!

We prize ourselves at being lovers of candid photographs. The beauty of a candid shot is that it is raw in emotion and purely an unadulterated excerpt of a memory. The same does not go for pictures that are posed-for. Photographs of people that are staged, as part of a photo-op or a professional photo shoot or with the plain intent of capturing a certain someone on frame with their knowledge lacks all the incentives that a candid photograph carries with it. Naturally with so much thought and effort being put behind a picture that is posed-for, you would except a smile flashing back at you most times. Right?

Alas!

Most people do not smile at the camera. And I hate it! To have to initiate a fun jeer in a group or having to coax people into smiling even slightly has turned into quite a task. Unless your photo-op demands you to look deadpan at the camera, I suggest you smile when a camera is pointed at you. Because when you smile, you are telling everyone, who will subsequently look at your picture later, that it took the least effort for you to do so. By flashing your grin, you are conveying a message that you are easy and friendly and not a serial killer in disguise. 

Be like babies. Babies take a second to smile and laugh. And laugh hysterically they will, because all they own is innocence and happiness. Bring that kind of a positive energy to a photograph; For it is a keepsake and not something that will disappear with the blink of an eye. 

Make the most of what little you have left of today and when someone you know asks you for a picture, pose and smile! And while you are at it, smile often. Smile when someone gets up to offer you a seat in the bus. Smile when someone stops the lift when they see you running so that you can get on. Lift your head from your phone and smile at your mum and your dad and tell them you love them. You need not do it all the time, but do it enough. 

And to make your day a little more cheerful, time for some pictures of my favourite Suhana and her happy happy smiles! 

Quiet and Fierce - Chandana Munipalle

It was in the aftermath of a major photography drought I went through that I conjured this project in my head where I photograph the prominent bloggers in Hyderabad city. Though the number is quite small, this little but significant community of bloggers is the one to look out for. In my series of meeting and photographing these amazingly talented and beautiful women, I will be talking about them and what drives them to do what they are doing now. And the first of these women is 'The Girl at First Avenue' Chandana Munipalle

At first glance, Chandana will bowl you over, with her quiet demeanour. As you get to know her, spend more time with her what will hit you more clearly about her personality is her perseverance. Chandana decided to become a fashion blogger at a time when fashion blogging was still in its nascent stages. People hardly understood the What, When and How of the industry, let alone understand the nuances of fashion blogging. Over the years, she has made the mark for herself as a blogger who is fierce and selective about her choices and true to her passion. My obsession with using the word 'fierce' to describe her comes from her sheer grit and honesty to what she does. If there is a prospective campaign she feels creatively unchallenged by, she will not take it. Such is her passion. We spent a good few hours mulling over the sad state of fashion blogging now, especially in Hyderabad. With numbers not entirely being true determinants of influence, both Chandana and I felt that there needs to a be a major transition in the fashion blogging scene so as to engage more audience and create more creative content.

If you have never read her blog, you must read now. You will find it hard to miss her style and how she weaves a story in a post. My personal favourite is this post on Charminar 'Citystories'

If you are looking for inspiration and some brilliant creative content, follow Chandana and her blog

#Photostory : A day in the life of Mumma

Celebrating my mother with a series of photographs I clicked of her over the day. She is the woman I look up to because she embodies joy and courage in the face of testing times. Her transformation from being a housewife to a woman who works and handles a business is commendable. Now the eldest member of the family, she guides us like the true matriarch that she is, inspiring us along the way. 

I welcome any feedback you, the viewer, may have.
Happy viewing

An early start to the day

Her constant companion - Suhana

Getting ready for work

At work : A Cafe she runs along with the family

Meeting with relatives and well-wishers

Caught candid

Deep in conversation

Homework follows

#Photostory : Sunday Afternoon

Photo story (meaning) : A story illustrated with sequential photographs in the manner of a comic strip.

Photostories intend to tell a story or explain a brief scene in the form a photographic series. This particular series is called Sunday afternoon. Some context here: The protagonist of the series, Suhana, is a natural brat and to sit still is hardly in her nature. This set of photographs happened on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I would appreciate any feedback you, the viewer, may have. 

Happy viewing

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Sunday is a lazy day. Suhana, the naughty one, was up at 6 in the morning. One by one, she woke up the entire household by jumping up and down on the bed. By noon, she was done with her lunch and was sitting quietly on the floor thinking about what to break next. In a last ditch attempt to distract her, her mother offered to get her some chocolate milkshake if she stay put.

It worked.

Content and now with a full tummy, little Suhana climbs the sofa

Having woken up so early in the morning, Suhana starts to feel sleepy. 

Just lying down...

*YAWWWWWN*

Sleeping at last! 

#ExplorerSeries : Exploring Vishakhapatnam in two days!

I have been married for a month now and I am usually asked only one question. "How do you like your new town?"

I moved to the port town of Kakinada as the husband is posted here due to his work with a government agency. Quite frankly, I miss Hyderabad for it's fast city life compared to the laid back nascent day to day of a town. Marriage has brought with it a whole plethora of new experiences, the most prominent being trying to figure out my way through the market and the main bazaars. The most exciting task was the one I took up was to transform the house into a home while the husband was away at work all day. Two weeks seemed like no time at all amidst this at the end of which I was well versed with the town and it's ways. Pramod (the Mister) gets weekends off and after the mad two weeks, he scooped me off for a mini weekend vacation in Vishakhapatnam(also known as Vizag). 

Vishakhapatnam is a 3 to 4 hour drive from Kakinada. We chose to travel by road because I am a sucker for roadtrips and the whole way I revelled over how picturesque it was out the window. It being January, the weather also was not harsh and the humidity, bearable.

We drove to the Ramakrishna Beach on Saturday and explored the coastline on foot. As the International Fleet Review was scheduled for the next week, the security arrangements at the beach were pretty strict to get past but I did manage to splash my feet and wade through the terrifying water before the guard blew his whistle at us rather angrily. We did spend over an hour at the beach. Just because. 

Ramakrishna Beach

Right after the beach, sandy feet and all

We were staying over at a cousin's place for the weekend in the Vizag Steel Plant and so the plan was made for us to visit the Appikonda Beach located in the Plant premises. We spent a good half hour here as well and managed to sneak in a few good selfies before we headed back home. 

Pramod and I at the Appikonda Beach

Appikonda Beach, Vizag Steel Plant

Sunday evening, we sped up the car to Kailashgiri Hills. It is a must-go for anyone who is visiting Vizag for the first time. We did not have much time at hand as we had to get on the bus for our return back home. We did a quick tour of the resort in a toy train made for the tourists at Kailashgiri and on it's 20 minute journey, it offers you the most breathtaking views of the city and it's sprawling coastline. 

Looking down at Vizag from Kailashgiri Hills

View!

I explored a new city in the two days I had at hand and left Vishakhapatnam with a resolve to be back and explore it further. 
Until next time!
Cheers!
D

P.S. Unfortunately, I have not shifted my camera and related gear to Kakinada from Hyderabad so the pictures are all courtesy my phone, Redmi Note4G

#ExplorerSeries : To the Zoo

When was the last time you felt like a little kid and went to the zoo? For no apparent reason. Just. My family has a long standing love affair with the Zoo. My uncle, whom I call Nandusa, is a lover of zoo trips. On hardly a minute's notice, he will assemble the people in the house, hop into the car, pick up chips and chocolates on the way and head to the zoo. 

Hyderabad's Nehru Zoological park spreads over an area of over 350 acres and houses scores of different species of animals. My earliest memory of the zoo is of my dad driving a beat Maruti Omni and me and my cousin crammed in the back of the car with the door of the trunk propped open. We packed picnics and lunched out in the zoo park, right next to the lake or the model dinosaurs in the prehistoric park. After, we played with the frisbee and even enjoyed a couple of games of badminton hardly ever getting to beat my mum who was a local champ at the time. Even today, those Sundays spent at the zoo make for a happier time than a feverish trip to the overcrowded mall in the present. Simpler times were indeed the happier times.

And that is why, Nandusa loves to go to the zoo and loves to take us along. To be aware of a simpler happier time, when having fun was a shared lunch with the fake T-Rex. But we haven't been to the zoo in a while now. Our last trip was a couple of years ago and it was him, his brat of a daughter Suhana and myself with the camera. With half the family back home nursing our matriarch back to health, I decided to carry my camera along on the trip to document the trip as the father-daughter explored the zoo. This is also Suhana's first trip to the zoo after she grabbed the concept of animals and learnt to recognise them correctly. 

The following series of photographs are nowhere related to the zoo, it is a photostory of a father playing guide to his awed daughter. 

This is the first of the many posts that will subsequently follow in the #ExplorerSeries 
Would love to hear feedback.
Cheers!
D