Become a confident storyteller for your brand to stand out and sell more. I'm a Visual Brand Coach and Award-Winning Photographer (featured in NY Times, Instagram, Apple). I help badass women entrepreneurs own their stories, showcase their uniqueness, and create brands that are downright magical. Ready to make your brand sizzle? Get your hands on my free brand guide packed with five essential ingredients to create an unforgettable brand experience.
The photo nobody wanted me to take
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Dear Reader, One quick photo, years ago, became the one that mattered. Last week, a dear friend passed away, and it had me thinking about the people who come into our lives and become family. I met Pravin and his wife when I was single and had just moved to Peoria for my first job. Those early days were hard. I was an immigrant trying to fit into American culture. I was far from my own family, and somehow, their home became a place where I felt at home. Their two kids were little then, and I got to watch them grow up. Pravin could whip up the most delicious veg or non-veg food in no time. His wife is also a wonderful cook, so showing up at their house usually meant laughing, drinking his home-brewed beer, eating something good and talking long after you meant to leave. Over the years, as life took us to different places, we stayed in touch and met in Chicago, India and the San Francisco Bay Area. Pravin was spontaneous, whether it was taking a trip or whipping up an amazing meal. In my early days, he hosted my Storyboxart website, for those of you who have known me since 2007. That is how I want to remember him. Full of ideas. Over the past year, Pravin’s illness had gotten worse. Then last week, his daughter called with the news I had been afraid to hear. She also told me that for the messages they sent out after he passed, they used a photo I'd taken of him and his wife during one of my visits to Chicago. She said, "It's the best photo of Dad." It was a photo nobody wanted me to take, and I dragged them out for it. And now it means so much and I am grateful that I took that photo. I've seen it with friends and clients — a moment can matter so much. So take photos of your people, especially your parents, your elders, who may not want to be in the frame. Hire someone if you have to. Because sometimes that one ordinary photo becomes anything but ordinary. Alpana P.S. His daughters are planning his celebration of life at a brewery. That is exactly how he would have wanted it. |
The Secret Sauce is Your Story
Become a confident storyteller for your brand to stand out and sell more. I'm a Visual Brand Coach and Award-Winning Photographer (featured in NY Times, Instagram, Apple). I help badass women entrepreneurs own their stories, showcase their uniqueness, and create brands that are downright magical. Ready to make your brand sizzle? Get your hands on my free brand guide packed with five essential ingredients to create an unforgettable brand experience.
Reader, Growing up in Bombay, I learned to look for quiet moments in the chaos of the city. Not just faces.I was obsessed with light and the environment. Sometimes I would stop strangers to make portraits.Sometimes I’d end up in conversations in cabs or restaurants where strangers would share from the heart. I didn’t think of it as a method or framework.I loved the connection and being able to make people feel seen. Years later, I realized I use those same skills in my brand work. Your job...
Dear Reader, I woke up pretty early this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. So I thought I’d edit a few photos. Somehow, I ended up rewriting an entire page of my website. That was not the plan. But once I started I realized the old page wasn’t showing enough of my recent work. People often come to me thinking they need one thing. It might be a LinkedIn photo or a personal portrait. But rarely do we create just one type of image. We usually create a mix of personal and professional...
DearReader, My son finally got a job. And I don't think I realized how much I was holding my breath for him until he did. Rowan graduated from UCSB a year and a half ago with a degree in data science. This is also a generation that went to college during COVID, when very little about college life was normal. Then they graduated into another shift. AI had taken off and the job market was changing.And a degree in a field that had seemed full of opportunity didn't necessarily mean finding a job...