Automobiles Check 1

“It’s about exploring newer avenues,” insists 26-year-old Shraddha Kadakia who is India’s first female photographer of the corporate aviation sector. In simple terms, Shraddha’s profession takes her to dizzying heights of 25,000 feet above land to shoot photographs of airplanes zooming past her. “Risk is a part of everyday life, whether it is to hang from a makeshift crane from 500 feet to take images of airplanes on the ground, or taking help of the Indian Air Force to click pictures of aircrafts zooming past at 25,000 feet beside me.”

She has landed plush projects in the recent past — cataloguing automobiles from leading brands to photographing cars that are shipped abroad to different countries like Africa, UK and the US. The market for commercial automobile photography is growing in India. She says, “I recently shot an entire range of 35 trucks that were going to be sent abroad along with cars that were for the South African market. Compared to the West, the international units find it much cheaper to get their foreign cars shot in India.”
Her expertise at commercial photography caught the attention of the authorities at the SVKM Aviation Academy in Nashik that uses several aircrafts to teach budding commercial pilots. But a plush assignment brought along plenty of risks. Shraddha recounts, “The supporting equipment for risk photography is not so advanced. I had a makeshift crane to hang from above 500 feet and shoot a resting aircraft. Plus each of these shoots are expensive and help is also needed from the Indian Air Force. You need special permission to shoot on runways.”

Her job requires not only mental fortitude, but physical fitness too. She explains, “At 25,000 feet, where oxygen is negligible, you look out of a window to shoot an aircraft zooming by at breathtaking speeds. It leaves you dizzy.”