NOVICA is the National Geographic artisan catalog that I have been a photographer for several years now! They have various regions around the world that I’ve now shot in – India, Indonesia, Thailand, Peru, Mexico, and Guatemala. I have gotten to photograph the artisans that make all these amazing vanishing crafts, like the ones that make our Andeana Hats, and capture their goods up close to sell on a global market! One of the goals of NOVICA is to create income opportunities for artisans that have these ancient crafts that are dying out in these very rural areas. Photographing for NOVICA and seeing their mission has helped inform so much of my own work and goals for what I have wanted to do with my own life!
I love the Rajastan, India – the whole area is so beautiful. The artisanship of the buildings, the culture, the colors, the food… it's just simply amazing and I love shooting there! They have some of the best clothing and jewelry artisans and handicrafts.
The products that we shot were mainly clothing on the model. NOVICA wanted cover images for the catalog, so we were going around Jaipur and shooting at these really iconic places - the Patrika Gate and the famous Panna Meena ka Kund being a couple of my favorites! One of the surprises with this Jaipur shoot was that we thought we were getting up really early so that we would be the first people to shoot at Patrika Gate…and when we arrived, there were about fifteen couples and gobs of photographers already there shooting or waiting in line to shoot in the exact same place that we wanted to shoot our model! We were on a massive time crunch for the day, so I basically had to bust my way in there for about 5 minutes and just tell the photographers like, “Sorry! We're coming in here for 5 minutes!” and had to clear the scene, photograph the model in record time, and then get out of there! All the photographers were like “what the heck! Who this is white chick!” Haha sometimes you just have to take charge and be a little pushy when it comes to getting that shot and it totally paid off!
It's always chaos to photograph in India with the cows, the monkeys jumping all over and just people honking in the streets, the hustle and bustle of a city – but just add an elephant or two and woo! You’ve got to really be on your toes to photograph there, it’s wonderful!