Q. From where did the idea of getting into photography come from?
Ans. Arushi: I met Akanksha when we were in our 12th standard, and that's when I got to know about her interest in photography. She was always keen on capturing the moment so that she can freeze and recall it after. So, she was always capturing everything around her. I proposed that we should start taking pictures as a hobby, and we started doing that with Akanksha's camera. Soon after a colleague of ours contacted us to cover a wedding.
Akanksha: At that time, we had no mindset of entering into wedding photography or any commercial photography, for that matter. Since the opportunity presented itself, we decided to act on it. The cover was truly amazing, and the photos came out really well. The client was a journalist by profession, and she forwarded our clicks to a magazine. Our actual growth started from that magazine feature, and our circle started to grow.
Q. What were your parent's takes on your decision of pursuing photography as a profession?
Ans. Arushi: Both Akanksha and I are from a business background, and our parents wanted us to join their businesses right after college. They were not supportive of us initially, as they wanted us to either go for an MBA and settle abroad or join the family businesses. There was no third option for us. They made it pretty clear that they were not going to support us financially as well.
Q. How did you land on deciding the name, "Lenseyezia Productions"?
Ans. Arushi: Our initial name was "Captures, Frames, and Photography". But, whenever we talked to a client, we wouldn't feel enthusiastic about saying our name, for it was a very common fusion of words. We decided to create a new name with the inspiration that it should be quirky enough that people have to ask, "how did you come up with such a unique name?" We browsed for about six to seven months, and that's when we came up with "Lenseyezia". If we disintegrate the word, it becomes Lens {a camera's lens}, Eye {our human eye} and Zia {Arabic for light}, without these three, we cannot take a photograph. So, we combined the three most important words in photography and formed our name. We are so glad that even today, before anything else, our clients always ask us about our name.
Q. What does a day in your life look like, and what is your shoot schedule?
Ans. Akanksha: We have a yearly strategy where we take limited projects a year. We form a monthly schedule thereafter wherein, each month, we do 5-6 shoots to deliver the appropriate quality that the clients have heard of us. We do a lot of collaborations as well to gather creative ideas. Though we do countless collaborations in a year but, our wedding shoots are pre-decided at 50-60.
Arushi: Talking about the pointers, the first thing that we do is hold a team meeting with our managers regarding the old clients. The next step is holding a meeting for the new clients. The third is the collaboration for seeking new ideas. Fourth, we contemplate the challenges that we are facing. Fifth is digital marketing, which is the most important step. These are the five pointers our day is divided into.
Q. How did you assemble your team?
Ans. Akanksha: It was a very challenging task, but we had an agenda mapped out. We were settled that we would be hiring more female personnel and those who were the sole earners of their families.
Arushi: We give only 30% weightage to the professional qualifications of the person, as we are more inclined towards their emotional stability. We feel that photography is an emotionally driven profession. We always prefer those, who are passionate but do not get the right set of opportunities.
Q. You have won the Wedding Sutra Award in 2021. Describe that winning feeling.
Ans. Akanksha: When this award was announced, we were very indecisive regarding our participation since it was during the peak wedding season. But then, we thought that since we already have the content, why not give it a try? The feeling was absolutely surreal, and now it's like we want more.
Q. Your work has been published in Popxo, Wedding India, Witty Vows, and many more. Describe your journey till reaching this point.
Ans. Arushi: The main task in our schedule is to find what's trending online and to try our best to put forward the finest ideas. After that, we approach the collaborators asking them to review our work. So, that's exactly what we did with the above-mentioned brands because we felt that they had the same thought process as ours. Blessedly, they liked our work and helped us get published. Also, full credit goes to our team, which has consistently put in a lot of effort and given their all to producing high-quality content.
Q. You have done shoots for LGBTQ couples; we would love to hear your take on it.
Ans. Akanksha: We came across a couple, Pritam and Manish, who are content creators as well, and during our conversation with them, they told us about their relationship. We thought that it's been five years since we have been covering straight couples, so why not challenge ourselves and see how well would we be able to showcase their chemistry on camera? That shoot became so viral that even the Times of India interviewed that couple.
Q. Every day you wake up to do something that you love. How do you feel about that?
Ans. Arushi: It is a very blessed feeling. We feel very energetic and happy. But sometimes it gets very challenging as well because there are people who are just waiting for us to fall. We have to do four times the effort to maintain our consistency.
Q. What advice would you like to give to budding photographers?
Ans. Arushi: The first advice would be that consistency is the key. Do not be fickle-minded and keep hopping from one option to another. If you have decided on a goal, then do your best to achieve it, there is no second option.
Akanksha: Everyone has a soul story. Ours was that we wanted to prove to our parents that we could succeed in this profession. So, there must be a soul story behind your goal.
Q. What does the near future look like for Lenseyezia Productions?
Ans. Akanksha: We have a lot of future prospects, the most immediate one being team expansion. Currently, we are a team of about twenty members, and we would like to expand that number to forty-fifty. Secondly, we want to expand our reach to different countries and have international clients.
HIGHLIGHTS
Arushi and Akanksha started doing photography as a hobby when they were in their 12th standard.
They were presented with an opportunity to cover a wedding shoot in 2014 that got published in a magazine and gave them the jump needed to pursue photography as a profession.
Their parents were not supportive of their decision of pursuing photography and wanted the girls to either go for an MBA and settle abroad or join them in their family businesses.
Despite the unyielding mindset of their parents, both the girls started their professional photography journey with "Captures, Frames, and Photography".
They changed their production name to "Lenseyezia Productions", a mix of the three most important words in photography: lens, eye, and light.
They work on a yearly strategy basis wherein they take 50-60 projects a year and divide them into monthly tasks. However, they do countless collaborations for idea generation.
Their primary focus when hiring is on the person's emotional stability. They try to hire more female personnel and people who are the sole earners of their families.
Lenseyezia is the recipient of the Wedding Sutra Award 2021. They give full credit to their team, which has consistently put in a lot of effort and given their all to producing high-quality content.
They want to expand their team in the near future along with expanding their reach abroad.
Their advice to budding photographers is that consistency is the key and to not be fickle-minded. If you have decided on a goal, then do your level best to achieve it, there is no other way around it.
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