I have done many pre-weddings shoots in Bangalore (and across India) over the last 10 years and every single time I get nervous. I’m nervous because there are a million things running across my mind, and I have high expectations from myself, that’s because I want to create a piece of art that will be cherished ( and hopefully remembered). Coming Lalbagh, it’s a beautiful garden located in the south of Bangalore. Its spread across 240 acres and has close to 2000 species of plants in it. It’s nicely maintained and has lots of space to move around. I love Lalbagh mainly because of the sheer variety of shots I can get, and it gives ample privacy to my couples, which is amazing ( considering the public display of affection can be quite tricky in India). The place is pretty popular among the locals because of its huge green cover and the fact that it’s so accessible to city dwellers. Built by the Mughal kings Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, it’s got history, it’s accessible and it’s unbelievably green. I like the fact that It’s so underrated because once the images are out, people fall in love with them, and all of this in the heart of the city ( right in the middle of the maddening crowd) makes it an amazing choice.

Monisha & Tito

Monish and Tito flew in from Dubai to have their traditional south Indian wedding in Bangalore, they got in touch with me over the phone. They wanted a quick pre-wedding shoot to be done since they were running short of time, after discussing a few options, they went with my suggestion of Lalbagh. It was a beautiful experience shooting for the love birds, they were so much fun. I love it when the couple is ready to experiment and let loose, that’s what makes the experience (and the pictures) to another level. It usually takes about 15-20 mins when the couple starts ignoring me and just focuses on being them-self. The laughter, the silliness, the pranks, the romance, the kiss, and the immediacy all make it for an out-of-the-world picture.

Parul & Apurva

The two doctors, Parul & Apurva flew in from the USA and had an amazing destination-styled wedding in Bangalore. It was 3 days of madness. A Punjabi bride and a Gujju groom, well you can imagine the kind of fun they would have had. We again decided on Lalbag for the pre-wedding shoot. The good thing this time was that we pretty much had the entire afternoon to ourselves in Lalbagh. We started up by doing a few forma shots of them together, which quickly changed into candid moments of togetherness. We went around this beautiful lake in Lalbagh, and there is a small island which is also a garden but closed to the public, we were lucky that it was open that time and we went in to take some awesome shots. I was thrilled to see them open up and have fun the whole time. Absolutely loved shooting for this beautiful couple.

Keep watching this space as I add a few more stories from Lalbagh here.