BRI Featured Artist
Prem Mukherjee
How long have you been shooting pro?
8 years
Describe your education & training in photography.
Lots of workshops, conventions, and thousands of hours using online forums such as the Digital Wedding Forum
What challenges did you face early in your career?
When first starting out, there seemed to be an unlimited number of things that needed to be worked on. However, that doesn't seem to ever change does it?
What is your secret to balancing your
photography business and your personal life?
I'm still trying to figure this one out. We recently hired some employees to spread out the workload, which will hopefully help me to become a better husband and father.
Define your photography style.
That's a tough question. My style is all about creating what I want and not worrying about what the client wants. When I consistently do things MY way, we get clients that hire us because they like what we do and life gets much simpler. What I want is typically based on the most recent inspiration, which typically comes from other respected photographers.
What inspires you artistically (a person, place, movie,
you name it!)?
Getting out in nature. I love doing landscape and travel photography and use that as my escape. There's something about the smell of the morning dew on the grass and sitting in silence with nothing but the sounds of the wind and the birds. It reminds me of how good God is and how blessed we really are.
When going into a session, what motivates you?
The money that I hope to make from the session. Seriously. For me, this is about business, and not art. I of course want to create something amazing and artistic that the client will love but the ultimate goal to do an amazing job is the financial reward.
When working with your clients, how do you evoke the
perfect expression
and pose?
By having someone that's really easy going who comes along with me on the shoot who's primary purpose is to make small talk and make them laugh.
What business tip would you give the new photographer?
Spend at least as much time learning about business as you spend learning about shooting and editing.