An artist without boundaries, a soldier without uniform - photographer Pravin Talan

Pravin Talan is an internationally acclaimed fashion and lifestyle photographer, who has worked across Asia, Africa and Europe with diverse leadership brands like Fashion TV, Vogue and the United Nations.  Talan is an artist of choice across various industries like Bollywood, Sports, Fashion, Music, Politics, Spirituality or Corporates.

His strength lies in capturing the soul of his subjects, innovative use of lighting, ability to seamlessly blend Art, Fashion & Heritage. Widely regarded as a soulful, inspiring, original and creative photographer his work on Taj Mahal, Fashion and India’s Bordermen has been published worldwide.

His increasing popularity in international fashion circuit brought him at cross roads-to shift base to Europe, which made commercial sense or remain in India. Irked by International media as always projecting India as a nation of snake charmers, slums and ‘sati’ he decided to use his art and influence to project India in positive light to the world rather than seek glory abroad.

At the peak of his professional career he took a break of four years to capture the glory and capabilities of uniformed forces and focus on projects on women empowerment, highlighting a modern progressive country where women were equal partners. He has made significant contribution to Central Armed Police Forces by creating large photo banks of over one-lac photographs showcasing their mission and capabilities. He is perhaps the only photographer in the country who has photographed almost all uniformed services including Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, BSF, NSG, CISF, CRPF, SSB and State Police.

Regardless of the many grave injuries he suffered in the process; he marches on with these scars as medals celebrating his grit and passion. His mission is to create one thousand free downloadable wallpapers of the heroes of the nation to inspire the youth and firmly state India as a strong and capable nation on a global platform.

His firm belief has been that an empowered woman empowers many others. Women are not weak, they never were. Period. This was recognized recently, when the world’s leading fashion brand Vogue, chose to do an exclusive photo-essay on his work on Women-in-Forces in its tenth anniversary edition.

Taking the Indian women in uniform on the international platform is his contribution to making the world realize the true potential of the Indian woman and this also is the theme for his upcoming exhibition.

Intrigued by the dying crafts practiced in the city of Taj Mahal, in 2012-he set to capture their essence through a dynamic collaboration between art, fashion and history. Theme was to promote the Taj as not just about love, but also architecture, design, engineering, craftsmanship. ‘With love from Taj’ got global appreciation with international coverage.

In 2013, the UN invited him to collaborate on a project titled ‘A day in the life of a sex worker’ to highlight various human rights issues related to AIDS affected sex workers. UNAIDS used photos internationally in various conferences and Pravin Talan was commended for his sensitive and compassionate approach.

In 2009 he became the first Indian photographer to work with world’s top most fashion and glamour content creator FTV and shoot various FTV productions worldwide. He was chosen Photographer in Focus by Fashion TV (India) and brought on board to conceive, create and execute new photography projects for the channel.

In 2007, he joined hands with Anti-Corruption Bureau and made a short theatrical film ‘Say No To Corruption’. It’s the only such film on Internet.

Deeply influenced by The Geeta and teachings of Vivekananda, at 23, he formed Sanchetna, an NGO dedicated to organizing blood donation camps, setting up student library for underprivileged, giving scholarships, sponsoring critical medicines and providing a national platform to talented youth.

Some of the known names he has photographed include names like Raj Nath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Amitabh Bachchan, Raja Reddy, Priyanka Chopra, Jaqueline Fernandes, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Brahmakumari Sister Shivani amongst many others. I also want to capture the soul of Modi in photographs . I am very intrigued by Narendra Modi's  personality. He has many shades- the aggression of a warrior and the calmness of a saint. He is inspiring intimidating...yet affable. Spending a day documenting his lifestyle and work would be amazing.

His journey of life has been inspirational and his work does not speak of pain, sufferings and despair, but hope, inspiration and empowerment. His persona can be summed up as an artist without boundaries, a soldier without uniform, a man with a big heart and a patriot to the core.

Remaining in the shadows, he continues to be active in social work activities besides having come to be known as one of the most iconic photographers of this generation.