ANUSHKA NADIA MENON, photographer
Buzz: Edgily distinctive style, ‘It’ assignments
Make it mantra: Look, learn and then some more
I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording not thinking.” It is undeniably one of the most recognised literary openers and quite the opposite of Anushka ‘Nadia’ Menon’s dictum. Straight off the back you can tell that she imbues her work with her ideology. Her iconic influences? The names roll off her tongue, David La Chapelle, Marcus Klinko, Indrani and Nick Knight. “I’m constantly browsing the Internet and books for inspiration and ideas. The more you see, the more you learn,” she says, with the guard of one who has carefully studied and loves her profession. Her philosophy has always been to keep her ideas fresh, work hard and learn from mistakes.

Anushka’s first foray into this art materialised from a picture gifted by her sister. “When I left to study in Melbourne, my sister gave me a black and white photo of a rose she had taken.” Anushka has come a long way since. Her client roster spans Bollywood bigwigs like Shah Rukh Khan, the royal family of Rajasthan, musicians like Anoushka Shankar and Karsh Kale and corporate giants like Reebok and Barista. But fashion is her forte. She straddles a fine line of reality and art with shoots that have a distinctively edgy, futuristic and irreverent look. Her youth has simultaneously been a great strength as well as an impediment. While some look to her for fresh ideas, others glaze over her for seeming inexperience. Don’t let this impossibly petite photographer fool you though. She packs a punch with a feisty personality and enormous talent to boot.

Born in Delhi, raised in Muscat and then Melbourne, where she finally realised her passion, Anushka has begun carving a niche for herself. “I don’t think I’ve developed a style yet. I have certain ways in which I like to shoot things but don’t always get the chance to do so. Right now I work to put food on the table and am happy trying new things out.”