“Together we see, feel and encapsulate the love, energy, excitement and fun that makes a wedding. Whether it’s the natural moments, details (large or small), or beautiful portraits, we will understand and convey the bond between the bride and groom and pour our heart and soul into making the images meaningful.” Sanjay and Roshni Jogia are EYE Jogia Photography from London – named as the best six wedding photographers of the world by UK Professional Photographer Magazine in 2014. Eye Jogia specialise in Asian Wedding Photography and Indian Wedding Photography in a documentary, photojournalistic and artistic fashion style covering the whole of London, Nation wide in England, Europe, The Unites States of America, China, Thailand and Africa. The couple describe their work with ‘love & light’ and we are happy to have the opportunity to interview Sanjay Jogia (The Soul) of Eye Jogia to learn more about his work, influencers, photographic style and how important Hahnemühle´s Digital FineArt paper is to eternalize the luxury weddings he and his wifes shoot. Eye Jogia Photography also won 8 separate awards for images at the annual Societies Wedding and Portrait Photographers Convention in January 2015.
When did you discover your passion for photography?
I was quite young. My father worked at the local Kodak factory for over 30 years so that had quite an influence in my youth. As with most 8 year old boys I wanted to know how dad’s camera worked, so I ‘borrowed’ his camera and opened it up to understand what was going on. I put it back together of course… only he didn’t know about it back then!
How did you come to the world of wedding photography?
My relationship with photography remained though school and my time at university where I trained as an Architect and continued after this while I was practicing Architecture. But when I was 15 my uncle got married in Sydney, Australia and of course my dad had his camera with him and he let me loose with it so I decided to have some fun while the official photographer directed and controlled the crowd which felt awkward and unnatural. The benefit of being a kid with a camera is that no one pays attention to what you’re doing so I could take my time to wait for something interesting to photograph so as not to waste film; so this was basically the start of my photojournalistic style.
Which of your projects opened the door to the professional market?
A friend of my wife and I had called one day saying that her boyfriend’s sister is getting married and that she had highly recommended that I photograph the wedding based on what she knew of my work and my style (which was a combination of photojournalism, architectural, automotive and portraiture), and that I should expect a call from the bride. Indeed she called and wanted to book me for my very first wedding which 8 years ago.
Who inspires you most?
This is a difficult question because it’s not so much a case of ‘whom’ but what. It’s not any one person, but I am mostly inspired by and dissecting movie scenes; in particular Film Noir. Also art; in particular the classical masters, and the fashion world mostly by commercial campaigns.
How would you describe your personal photographic style?
My style is a balance of a documentary approach making up 95% of my approach, and stylized fashion inspired portraits. This way all of our wedding clients experience the best of both worlds; they get to look their best in their portraits with refined posing and have the spirit of their events captured with the photojournalism.
What is most challenging about shooting weddings?
Every couple and therefore every event if different. Their events exude their personalities and so the energy of each even differs. Plus with weddings we get to exercise different creative and photographic muscles because with each wedding there’s an element of PJ, Portraiture, Landscape Photography with the venues, Product Photography with all the finer details, and with me (because I’m an Architect and a petrol head) there’s Architectural and Automotive Photography. So overall to achieve all these things at one wedding is a big challenge in itself.
What importance do you place on the printed presentation of your artwork?
It’s huge! It eternalizes the images, the memories and suddenly there’s an intangible value to the finished work. As a digital file, I find that many people take it for granted and don’t value the work, but as soon as they see it in print there’s an emotional element that comes into play. In addition, my images are usually created with the purpose to print and to be displayed and enjoyed in some physical form.
Which is your favourite Hahnemühle paper and why?
I absolutely love the Photo Rag bright white 310gsm for the fine texture and the fact that I can trust that the white tones in my images are represented as accurately as I intended them during post production.
Do you have a dream project you would like to realise someday?
I do! I’m working toward it as we speak but I can’t share the details right now because of the planning process.
What’s next for you?
More of what we’re doing with luxury weddings, and also the commercial, editorial and automotive work for which we are developing our team, approach and overall vision. It’s exciting stuff!
Enjoy four more Q&A by
Jared Windmüller from Brazil
Florian Commaille from France
Luka Zanic from Croatia
Jen Huang from the USA
Inspirational photography!