Four young photographers — Arjun C.A, Kumaran. K, Nikithaa Kumaran and Varun Sanjeevan — are just back from a photoshoot with a newborn. “We wrapped up the 12-day-old baby girl, put a hairband around her head and tried the belly pose. Luckily, she curled up on her belly and posed perfectly for us,” says Nikithaa. “Newborn photography is a big gamble,” she adds. The team founded Toddler Stories that specialises in parenthood photography, right from maternity to the time the baby turns one. “Recently, in Australia we shot a seven-day-old baby while she was fast asleep. People here are warming up to the idea. But some of them still think it is inauspicious to photograph a baby while it is sleeping,” she says. When the baby is two weeks old, it is the ideal time to photograph. “We can try out different poses like the froggy one. We set up the props including the wraps and other accessories. Right now, we are getting a double bunker bed ready to shoot newborn twins who are 24-days-old,” says Nikithaa. The four friends, along with Vivek Subramanian and Sai Abhishek, most of them engineers, turned to photography to take a break from the monotony of their engineering jobs. They began with The Memory Writers to focus on candid wedding photography. Later, they added Toddler Stories. Says Kumaran, “The couples whose weddings we shot called us back for maternity and newborn photography. That’s how the idea came about, especially while doing a full-fledged family shoot with newborn and siblings for a client in Vienna.” They spend three to four hours with the baby in order to capture some special moments. “Most of us have little nieces and nephews at home. That experience comes in handy while handling the babies. It becomes easy when the parents are involved. When the babies get cranky, we take a break and start clicking photographs of the parents and grandparents,” explains Kumaran. Be it weddings or newborns, the team says their work is never boring. As Nikithaa puts it, “We are an emotional bunch of people. It reflects in our work too. We love our jobs.” The team has also done ‘boudoir maternity photography’ with clients in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, and parts of Australia. “People often misunderstand boudoir photography to be something that requires nudity, but it is just a documentation of the transformation of their bodies during pregnancy,” explains Nikithaa. Candid photography should be spontaneous, they feel. So they prefer to be ‘invisible’ when a special moment unfolds. Sometimes they just use their cell phones. Varun captured an emotional hug between a father and his daughter on her wedding day. “You can’t expect people to stare into the camera during such moments. I shot a video of a teary-eyed bride with her back to her father, and somehow trying to catch his attention.The father came forward and hugged her before sending her off. The bride was so touched when she saw the video, that she called to thank me personally,” he says. Some of Kumaran’s candid photographs of couples shot in locations like the U.S. and Yercaud figure in the top 30 of the Weddisson Awards. Similarly, Arjun’s photograph of a Badaga wedding at Kundah near Ooty made it to the National Geographic magazine. “I captured a Badaga ritual where the bride carries a mat and washes it before leaving her home. Because of the rains, my camera got the reflection of the bride’s procession along with the mat. This made the photograph stand out,” says Arjun. Nikithaa says their job is not just about capturing funky poses. It involves a lot of work. “We have to work on the environment and use the camera judiciously. We have to be alert so that we don’t miss important moments.” It is important to have a good rapport with their clients too. “We go on road trips, hang out at the movies, and whenever we travel abroad we stay with them. Our work has helped us make friends throughout the world. We get into that friendly zone before we start photographing them,” says Varun. But, says Kumaran, “Now we want to focus on newborn photography and make it something memorable and special.” Know more While the bump-to-baby package costs about a lakh, there are other packages that start upwards of Rs. 25,000. To know more,visit the Toddler Stories page on Facebook. You can also check out The Memory Writers page to know more about candid wedding photography

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