I was always interested in painting but not too good at capturing colours on a white canvas. So I resorted to mastering the art of capturing lights on a black canvas, with the hopes of mastering it in the near future.

When I was in Bangalore in 2005, I stayed with college mates who were shutterbugs and I used to accompany them on their photography field trips, hoping to learn more about photography, even without a camera in hand. Before long, I became addicted to photography and that was when I realised and what my passion in life was. I started with a point-and-shoot camera and when I came to Singapore in 2007, I bought a Canon EOS 400D. From then onwards, my passion became a lifestyle.

Dance is a full body and mind experience, involving not just the body and soul of the performer, but also those watching the art form. There is a lot of emotion behind a performance and I focus on capturing the emotional intensity in my photographs. I tend to focus on both the overall artistic talent on display as well as details like the hand movements, the costumes, the eyes, facial expressions and postures.

Being a perfectionist, I am keen to capture the details which would make the photographs tell the complete story. I would tend to wait for the right moment to click rather than going for random shots expecting the camera to do the magic.

When I first started, I used to take photos without really following a fixed theme. I tried everything. Dance was always the toughest category for me. The low light and fast movements made it extremely difficult to capture a great photograph. But every time I took a good dance photograph, I felt the most satisfaction because I realised that my skill and technique have improved. I liked how the challenge of taking a good dance photo excited me.

I have been specialising in dance photography for five years now. Mostly, the Indian classical (Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Kuchippudi, Kathakali, Koodiyattam, Theyyam, Yakshagana and so on), Southeast Asian and western dance forms.