Meet Anupam and Soumi of KnotsbyAMP: a couple known to shoot mesmerizing wedding photography

WallMag: How did you meet each other? 

We were in the same school (Kendriya Vidyalaya, Mankhurd) for a brief period of time, then Soumi left for another school. We were mere acquaintances then and were passive friends on Facebook. When Anupam moved back to Mumbai in 2014 to start Wedding Photography after leaving his Circuit Design job with AMD in Bangalore, we got in touch again, since we used to live close-by. It may sound funny, but our first meeting was while jogging in the morning. Little did we know, that would result in a beautiful friendship, love and thereafter Work Partners as well.

WallMag: Work for you both is a collaboration, a competition or a bit of both?

Anupam: I never consider it be a competition, I feel very proud how in a short span Soumi has learned so much and her work speaks for itself. Soumi inherently is more empathetic and her style of connecting with people is very different from me.

Soumi: Well, its both a collaboration & a competition for me. We both think differently, and learn a lot from each other, which adds a lot of value in what we do. But our end-goal is the same, to make our couples happy, and in the process to get satisfied with our work as an artist. So, we collaborate to make our couple’s wedding visions & dreams a reality. We compete as well while working, but that’s a healthy competition, as it helps us in bringing out the best in each other.

WallMag: How long have you been shooting weddings? How many weddings have you photographed?

Anupam: I found Anupam Maurya Photography (AMP) in December 2013. Thereafter, Soumi came on-board in 2017. We felt there was a need to rebrand ourselves as the team grew, so AMP became "KnotsbyAMP" in the same year. We have covered 300+ weddings by now involving all the major traditions & rituals in India, and ranging from celebrity, destination & international weddings. The only culture we haven’t covered in India as of now is the north-eastern/tribal wedding.  

WallMag: Being photographers, how much excited you were for your own wedding photography/shoot? what plans did you both make together for it?

Anupam: Being a Wedding Photographer, I was quite excited about my own wedding, and I had tons of ideas, but back then Soumi wanted a simple wedding, her only concern was to be dressed as a typical Bengali bride so we went along with what the bride needed. Being the most experienced person with respect to weddings, most responsibilities regarding planning came on to me. One thing I was clear on was that I wanted both families to stay in the same place for two days and have all the functions in one big venue, so we settled down for an RTISC Sports club in Navi Mumbai, which had ample of choices of having an open-air wedding and also banquets for indoor functions like Sangeet and cocktail. However not all things go as expected at a wedding, and we had problems with the default decorator of the venue. Apart from that, we didn’t worry about other things going here and there and just made sure we enjoy our wedding along with our friends and family. For photography, we had our team to care of all aspects.

Soumi: I always wanted to be a Bengali bride. This was a distinct wish right from my childhood. And when the time came, I told Anupam about it. I am really glad that he agreed, or he had no choice either (laughs)! We also agreed on having a single wedding (rather than two, Bengali and UP wedding in our case). Luckily, both our parents agreed as well. Then I started the real wedding planning. I was lucky about the fact that I didn’t have to worry about photography & cinematography. So for me, the major lookout areas were the makeup & clothes. The wedding days passed away in a jiffy, but one thing which I and Anupam ensured was to have a lot of fun and that’s exactly what has been captured in the photographs. Not only us, but our friends, families, and relatives let their hair down and totally enjoyed the wedding at RTISC Sports Club in Ulwe, Navi Mumbai. And when I saw the photos and the wedding film, I literally cried, out of happiness. It was overwhelming in every way. You actually get to know the wedding emotions when you see your own wedding photos and film. That joy is different, like living the day through the photos & film. And I am really glad that Team KnotsbyAMP did such an amazing job with our wedding photos & film!

WallMag: When you shoot an engagement/wedding, what are your goals? Of course, pleasing the bride and groom must surely be high on the list of priorities, but I'd be interested to know what drives you to shoot weddings, stay creative and keep being passionate about it.  

Its the love and encouragement we receive from the couples that make us work harder, be more creative, infusing all our passion in the work we do. Also, getting to do something new and something creatively challenging never done before keeps us going ahead. The foremost thing which we always work towards is to capture and document a wedding in an honest and real manner for our couples so that even after they see their photographs & film years later, they would be able to re-live & revisit the moments, just how the wedding happened. The endeavour is always to keep it as their vision & version of their special day.

WallMag: How has wedding ideas helped and supported your business?

More than any specific idea, we feel it is our photography and filmmaking style of staying true to human emotions and their stories which we believe is timeless and connects people. Also taking a personal interest in other aspects of wedding planning, design, and conceptualization helps greatly to help your couples. Along with your work, your personality is equally important for your success. Being able to connect with people and help them through the whole anxiety is just as important as your creativity and vision.

WallMag: Have you ever made a mistake at a wedding? For example, missed a great photo opportunity?  

We have never missed a photo-opportunity when we have wanted to capture something. It is important to know and understand what your couples want. There have been occasions when your equipment fails you, a memory card gets corrupt or you fall sick, but thankfully it has never impacted our deliverables so far, thanks to our careful practise of managing data and keeping two separate copies of all data.

WallMag: The days of editing and manipulating photos in a darkroom are pretty much over, but that doesn't mean the photographs we take today with our digital SLR cameras don't need post-prod work. From the minute the pictures are in your computer after a shoot and the moment they are in the client's hands- what happens? what does your workflow look like? what tools/software/apps do you use?  

Over the years, we have been able to set processes that make our work easier and carefully handcraft and edit photos & films, so that we can give the best wedding memories to our couples.

- Photo edits with Lightroom & Photoshop. But the real edit happens in your mind and understanding how to achieve that in terms of process. You know what style and output you want in your photos and then you just need to know how to achieve that using any tool.

- For Film edits we prefer Da-Vinci Resolve unlike most in the industry who use Premiere Pro/ Final Cut Pro. It is easier to collaborate and do multiple things from edit, to color grade to visual effects, all in just one tool. Our style of making films is to primarily tell a story and this where we excel. All our films have our trademark style of storytelling, background music and the cinematography keeps on evolving every year.

WallMag: How will you elaborate on your memorable experience being a photographer?

The most memorable and enjoyable experience is to meet new people and be able to tell stories through your vision. A lot goes behind creating an image, from composition, to timing, to lighting and when everything comes together perfectly it gives you great joy to see the output. Also when you are editing a film on the edit-table and you see the output, it makes you fall in love with your own work. Each film that comes out of KnotsbyAMP, we all see almost a hundred times, before we share with our couples and that just happens unconsciously.

WallMag: Within the wedding industry, who else captivates and interests you?  

The great thing about photography is that its very open and you keep coming across great work almost every other day. But it's important to be true to your art, approach and work with an open mind, so as to be not too inspired or else your work could be too derivative and unoriginal.

One great way to derive inspiration is from popular cultures, surroundings, nature, basically life in general. While you can keep experimenting with style, you must be able to capture the story that lies in front of you honestly and consistently. Among living people on earth, we like Two Mann Studios, Ferjuaristi, Mayad studios, etc.

WallMag: Are there any projects you'd like to tell us about?

Having an experience of shooting 300+ weddings, we're all about capturing people with their variety of emotions. To be able to tell a story from their special day which is so highly anticipated, itself makes it special in a lot of ways.

However, the Kashmiri wedding we shot last year in September 2019 will remain close to our hearts for a few reasons - we shot this wedding during the communication shutdown situation in Kashmir and we composed our first original music for the wedding film. Overall, the love and hospitality we experienced in Kashmir motivated us like never before.

WallMag: Is there anything you would like to share with our readers?

- Follow the work of great wedding photographers and shoot as much as you can.

- Try to carry a camera with you whenever you step out.

- Study composition rules, try to work with them and eventually study the effect when you break them.

Follow Anupam Maurya and Soumi Goswami on Instagram to stay updated with their amazing work.

You can also check out their Website.