“Kashif comes from a world as far away from professional photography as humanly possible. Having done his MBA from the Institute of Business Administration in Finance, he started working in a reputable multinational organization of Pakistan. Kashif, in the years as a professional photographer has extensive experience in working with many upcoming and settled designers in the industry and his work has been printed in numerous fashion publications.”
FHM: Tell us about your successful journey? How did your career begin in the world of fashion?
KR: First of all I wouldn’t really call myself successful. I have always been passionate about photography and over a period of time gotten a bit of recognition in fashion industry. To be honest, I’ve always been interested in shooting people and expressions. Because of the love of doing people photography, it has evolved me to do fashion. It’s a little known fact that I started off as a fashion photographer then I started doing wedding shoots and after that I got a lot of commercial work too.
FHM: Why did you choose this profession?
KR: As mentioned earlier, I have always been passionate about people’s photography so this is why I chose this profession.
FHM: What challenges have you faced in your career till now?
KR: Honestly, I have never bothered about it, I am not saying the industry is not competitive but a lot of photographers are my friends and I have never gotten a lot of bitterness from the people and for me the challenges are from within myself. I challenge myself and prepare myself for the shoots that I do, research and how I can get out of my comfort zone. Lately, I am running a company and a lot of photographers are associated with it so getting them motivated is also a challenge for me.
FHM: Your biggest inspiration till date?
KR: I really like those people who have made their way without any initial support. For me EdhiSahab is really inspirational because he has done things which nobody could predict that he will be able to do. Most of my inspirations are people who do a lot of charity work and in industry related as far as creativity goes I would say Nomi Ansari because the way he plays with colors is really commendable.
FHM: Were you educated in photography or are you self-taught?
KR: I am an MBA by profession, so I am not educated in photography, though I have taken few workshops here and there, from London and South Africa. Other than that, mostly a lot my learning is from YouTube and magazines and books.
FHM: What was the turning point in your career?
KR: There’s not one point that I could say which identifies as a turning point. There are lots of areas which evolved into me going into where I am going. I would say there have been certain breaks that I have been given through people that I have met or there have been workshops that I have done; like one I did with TapuJaveri after that I got to know him and we have been friends since then. At the end of the day I just can’t say that this specific thing happened which I would say turned my life. I would say the journey is insanely long. I have never believed in overnight success; there’s always a hard work behind every successful person, It happens gradually.
FHM: How do you manage your personal and professional life?
KR: I have a very supportive family but obviously it gets a little difficult at times and everybody around me knows that my work is really very important to me and I am very passionate about it. So it is tough and sometimes my personal life suffers but it’s my own choice.
FHM: Any interesting memory or incident you want to share?
KR: Off the top of my head I can’t think of anything and honestly we are usually well prepared before doing any shoot I have never faced any mishap. Once it happened, I had to do this shoot with Urwa and Mawra and it was supposed to happen in day light but we couldn’t reach the location on time so we managed it accordingly and we got extra lights.
FHM: What do you want to say about lobby system in our industry?
KR: As I said, I don’t know much about lobby system and I don’t want to indulge myself to it. The thing is that I happily work with anyone who’s going to come to me. It has never affected me.
FHM: Which picture of yours are you currently most proud of?
KR: I can’t name anyone, there are a lot of shoots which are close to my heart but to name a few, I did a shoot for Xpose and Ayesha Toor was the model and a lot of work was done on post there were fishes flying all over and that was my first ever shoot which took me 2 long months to edit. But I would still say that I have to do my best shoot in future.
FHM: Before the shoot, how does the creative process begin for you?
KR: It all depends how the shoot is, whether it’s indoor or outdoor. If it’s a fashion shoot so the first step is to know how the clothes are then it’s obviously the whole theme that we need to show.
FHM: Any message to all the aspiring photographers?
KR: Just keep working hard and be nice to everybody, keep on learning.
FHM: Favorite model (male and female)?
KR: Husnain Lehri and Areeba Habib.
FHM: Favorite brand to work with?
KR: Al-Karam.
FHM: Friends from the industry?
KR: TapuJaveri and AmnaHaiderIsani.
FHM: Favorite place?
KR: Karachi.
FHM: 5 things you can’t live without?
KR: Cell phone, laptop, my family, friend and my camera.
FHM: Describe yourself in 3 words
KR: Friendly, helpful and ambitious.
