Shooting 5 time Olympian Shiva Keshavan - the fastest Asian on ice.

I first heard about 5 time Olympian Shiva Keshavan around summer 2016. He was visiting town to shoot a corporate movie for Mallcom India Limited; one of Shiva's sponsors. When I read up about him I was pleasantly surprised that Shiva represented India at the Winter Olympics for luge since 1998!

Shiva carrying the Indian flag at an Olympics opening ceremony

Luge - that one sport where you put lay yourself on a sled and surrender to gravity while you slide down a curvy ice track without brakes! Yes, that sounds like something I would like to try in my dreams. Shiva holds the Asian speed record at 134.3 kmph (82 mph) I had flashes of the Disney movie "Cool Runnings" which made bobsled relatively popular in the early 90s. But Luge was a different monster altogether. Interestingly, Shiva also holds the record - to date - as the youngest person to qualify for the sport of Luge.

I had reached out to Mallcom India and expressed my desire to make an appointment with Shiva for a professional headshot session. Since they were sponsoring him, I wanted to make sure that there are no clauses in their contract with Shiva that would lead to any misunderstanding and usage rights in the future. The date was fixed and the stage was set. Shiva had generously set aside half a day for me.

Jacket on call

The evening before shoot day, I called Shiva to check with him if he had any questions about the headshot preparation guide I had sent across to him. Given his short schedule in India, he was not carrying a jacket. I was very sure that I would want to shoot Shiva in a semi-formal wardrobe. It had to be an image that he did not have.

As a world-class athlete, Shiva has ample images of himself on the luge track or practicing his sport. I wanted to create a photo of him dressed sharp and looking aces. Not having a jacket was not a good idea. I immediately called my good friend Nikhil Golchha who owns a chain of formal clothing stores. I requested him to send across 10 to 12 jackets in Shiva's size in various designs and colors. We would pick the one that worked the best. This would save us a trip to the store!

“I had researched enough about Shiva to not ask him the standard 10 questions because he would have the standard 10 answers. Moreover, that would make for a very boring shoot. I like to get my subjects involved!”

Knowing your subject

As a photographer, it is quite a challenge to get your subjects to relax in front of the studio lights and the camera. It was evident that Shiva was seasoned in front of the camera. But I like to put a spin on my shoots. I had researched enough about Shiva to not ask him the standard 10 questions because he would have the standard 10 answers. Moreover, that would make for a very boring shoot. I like to get my subjects involved!

Once the shoot began; I started to mentor Shiva on how to stand and how to present his best side to the camera. I take great care and work along with my subjects to identify their best side and then keep guiding them as we progress.

My agenda is simple: I need to make the best headshot that you will have. So instead of throwing in everything in one big paragraph of instructions, I layer it up one step at a time. I shoot tethered into Capture One. The images are sharper and there is no guesswork with the colors. I also love how much better Capture One renders the skin tones.

Shooting tethered makes it super easy to review the images immediately and show the changes. This helps win confidence; as the subject sees the positive changes they trust me more with my guidance and the end result is always a better product.

What made the shoot a lot more fun was the fact that I was asking Shiva questions that he did not expect. More interaction leads to a lot more expressions and a lot more possibilities for me to push my clients. I have had my share of making images of known faces but this was by far the coolest person. Hey, what can I say I just upgraded the image of the fastest Indian on ice!

Here is wishing the very best to Shiva Keshavan. Please check out his site www.cheers4shiva.com. You can participate and win a chance to win a free trip to #cheer4shiva at 2018 Winter Olympics in PyongChang, South Korea!