Remember the chaiwala from Pakistan who went viral in 2016? If yes, you should meet Amol Goel, the man who's Instagram handle made chaiwala, Arshad Khan a ramp model.
From their content creation process to what's in the name - Amol Goel gives an insider's view of his Instagram handle Indianpictures.
Looking back, where did it all begin?
I started it as a little joke, When I came back to India in 2013, I realized that all my foreign friends had a lot of orthodox notions about India, I started Indiapictures to share my photos with them, India from my eyes.
What's in the name?
For me the name came as a simple thought, I never imagined we’d become so big, that people would echo our name to photography in India. But our name has really helped us get in front of a lot of people. Today I can clearly say if it weren’t for the name maybe we wouldn’t have been where we are today but who knows.
What is your USP in this cluttered space? How does your content give you an edge?
We have worked very closely to the laws of photography and are always in touch with Indian photography legends like Raghu Rai and Dheeraj Paul to guide us and correct us when we make mistakes. We also work on creating photo series which have a social impact motive to them.
Please take us through your content creation process. How do you stay relevant and relatable?
First comes the idea/story, then the composition, then the technique, then comes the shoot, finally the edit. We have always believed that if the photo doesn’t tell a story it’s not doing justice to us or the subject. We try our level best to make sure our photos do that, and then there is also the gut feeling which has always helped us out.
How do you make moolah with your efforts?
We do brand promotions for Smartphones, DSLR, and travel brands.
How do you maintain editorial objectivity with the influx of brand briefs?
It’s difficult, but we have to strong-arm our clients into moulding the briefs. Sometimes it works, sometimes we lose the clients, sometimes we have to give in to the clients too.
One instance/experience that made it all worthwhile
You remember the Arshad Khan, the Chai Wala from Islamabad, the guy who got viral on social media. Well, we made him viral, a photographer we know clicked it and sent it to us, and then bam. We got featured by many newspapers and TV channels in India and Pakistan.
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