I always love the challenge of a new country.
The task starts from connecting with people who you have never met to collaborate with you and share the same passion for art, And nothing else tops the list if you get to work with your dream team, I have always been a fan of Rosario Belmonte’s work the moment I knew he was in Bali I tried my luck to ask him to be a part of the project. Being the humble man he is and he instantly loved the idea and agreed to work in spite of his tight schedule and my early morning schedule.
Another special mention goes to the amazing Balistarz team Michaela and Vega who in spite of not knowing me at all agreed to supported my project and backed me with the best models and guidance on how to go about their island. This is what I love about this series in spite of no connect and just mutual admiration for art, people put their faith and time in each other.
To get the classic Bali feel it was essential that we included classic landmarks – the Balinese structures, typical house and the lovely people. By choosing these three, we created a cohesive story. To make it timeless we chose locations that had a time-warped feel. I wanted viewers that have never been to Bali to experience some of it’s history. To wanted to exist in the images and go back in time. On our quest to find the perfect location my lovely makeup and hair stylist Rosario offered to let me shoot at his beautiful abode.
The styling for this shoot was important – it required layering and mixing ideas to create the old Bali feel whilst still remaining modern. I reached out to celebrity Indian designers like Nishka Lulla, Di public relations who shared some lovely pieces by Sameer Madan, Cord and Ridhi mehra. And these lovely garments flew all the way to Bali from Mumbai.
Make-up and hair styling was minimal because we wanted a slightly undone and free spirit feel. I wanted the model to look lost and free at the same time.
For me, location shoots have to have a story, whether completely evident in the final images or not. Having a story makes it easier for everyone to work from a brief.
And like my most of the shoots in the chaotic silence series this too was absolutely chaotic as I had only 3 hours to shoot this before I fly back ! And moped was the only way we could make it too all the places that was one fun journey with my beautiful model all decked up riding one moped and me behind the lovely flocks of Rosario on another moped. And the effort was definitely worth it !
