Shraddha Kadakia, Founder, Just Click Image Making

To start with, tell us about what your entrepreneurial venture is?

“Just Click Image Making’ is a Photography agency dedicated to theproposition that… “Whatever serves the client best serves the agency best.” So, you can expect total agency involvement with your company; expect our people to become useful extensions to your staff; expect a fully coordinated, carefully planned approach that your marketing communication needs, based upon a sound marketing foundation; expect budget consciousness and cost efficiency, even more so; and finally, expect a high degree of creativity applied to nitty-gritty selling problems.’Just Click Image Making’ works towards creating 360 degrees images for its clients and our services include Production, Photography and Post Production. Our clients include the following, to name a few:1) SKODA AUTO LTD

2) FORD AUTO LTD

3) PIAGGIO

4) BAJAJ AUTO LTD

5) MARUTI

6) DC AUTO DESIGN

7) BMW

8) APOLLO TYRES

9) INFINITI RETAIL

10) TANISHQ

11) TRAVELGURU

12) DEVELOPMENT CREDIT BANK

13) TOYOTA

14) SVKM AVAITION OF ACADEMY

15) KAMA SHACTER

16) TATA MOTORS

Tell us about your journey leading to the beginning of Just Click? How did it begin? Was there any particular ‘ah-ha’ moment that led to you thinking of beginning this venture?

”Just Click' is a 3 year old baby that I have nurtured with my vision to bag my desired clients like Skoda Auto Ltd., Bajaj Auto, Apollo Tyres, DC Design, Maruti to name a few. Visuals always excited me; as a child I enjoyed painting and portraying my thoughts through images. That's how I realized that there is a creative side to me and when I explored it, it led me to my destiny i.e. photography. I did a 5 Years Diploma in Applied Arts from Sophia Polytechnic Art and Design Mumbai, in the course of which I identified my niche and realized that I have an eye for photography. We were asked to click photographs of the making of the Ganesha idol at Lalbaug as a part of a college project in the third year. The project was successful and my professors appreciated and liked my work to such an extent that I got my first photography assignment (in a newspaper) soon after. Without any formal training or education in photography I shot an entire edition of Indian Express Ganesha magazine. This was when I got a taste my own hard earned money. This was a turning point in my career because my parents were finally convinced that I have made the right career choice. Soon after completing the diploma course at Sophia's I went to Ooty to study technical and creative aspects of photography from ‘Light and Life Academy’ for two years. After completing the course I came to Mumbai and was advised by well-intending seniors to assist an established photographer. But I had something else in mind. I did not want to start my career path on the rules led by someone else, thus making the choice of being self made and that's how and why my company 'Just Click' commenced.”

What qualities do you think are required to succeed in such a venture? What qualities did you yourself fall back upon for the same?

”The singular quality which I followed was to create your own path and unique style! In today’s world, correct marketing of oneself and one’s product is very important as is approaching the right people at the right time; taking risks; working really hard and believing in your dreams and vision. At ‘Just Click’ we never forget our motto which doubles up as our USP: “Whatever serves the client best serves the agency best.”

What challenges did you face along the way to making this venture succeed? How did you overcome them?”In the initial days I shot film publicity posters, product and did lifestyle shoots for products like Jet Airways, Cien Water purifier, @ Home etc. I was delighted to be capturing images for these companies but had a strong feeling that there was something more to unravel. It was during the course of these product shoots that I got a chance to shoot for Skoda India Pvt. Ltd. I was given an image bank of overseas cars as they wanted to create a new bank of Indian cars and I was expected to shoot stills on those lines. It was a challenging task. I was reluctant in the beginning but I also knew that this was the time to grab an opportunity and prove myself. I thus created 150 images for the Skoda Image Bank for which I researched about the various cost-efficient ways of automobile photography over the next few days. It was a very different experience considering that we built a pandal in my building parking lot which served as a studio. We had a professional lighting team and for 30 days we were working on the still shots of the four-wheeler. My mom provided us with home made food throughout the 30 days of shooting. After this project there was simply no looking back! Soon after Octavia I went to shoot for Fabia at the plant itself. Unlike other photographers, our team decided to travel to the Aurangabad plant so that the company could save on the octroi and other expenses and also the added advantage was that we could be given more than one car for the shoot. Watching the making of a car gives you more ideas to capture it. After the shoot the stills were sent to different free-lancing editors in order to get different styles and variety in the images. My work was much appreciated and thus I started approaching other automobile companies without knowing a single soul in the industry. I’m proud to say that my confidence and talent lead me to right contacts on my own without involving any agency or middleman. After Skoda it was Bajaj Auto Pulsar mania, which was shot in Lonavla and was not a very easy task, as it involved shooting with unique stunt stills, as used first time ever in India.”

Did you, at any point, regret your decision of stepping into an entrepreneurial venture with hardly any blueprint to follow in time of need? And / or, did you ever feel you would have been better in a

predictable, routine 9-to-5 job?

“Never ever have I thought so or have got a reason to think so! Shooting in extreme situations and capturing stunt scenes gives me an indescribable high. My work has given me a motive to live by and has helped me carve a unique identity, not just as an automobile and aircraft photographer but also as someone who runs her own imaging agency at such a young age.”

What success mantra will you give for those who would want to follow in your footsteps?

”I’d just say ‘Believe in yourself and create your own path’.”

What are your future plans?

“I would like to gain a concrete experience of shooting for the aviation industry. Shipping Corporation and would love to shoot more international cars! Furthermore, It's a usual norm that Indian companies hire overseas photographers to get optimal results; I desire a day when my company 'Just Click' will be recognized as a renowned Indian photography firm to be called by overseas clients - that's what I call climbing a global ladder.”

Shraddha has just tweaked the idiom “Sky is the limit” for her professional achievements. Shraddha, like other young entrepreneur of Mumbai city had dreamt of shooting an aircraft as she had already delved with bikes and cars. All her hard work and inner desires saw the light of the day when she recently got a call from Concept Advertising to shoot for SVKM Aviation of Academy at Shirpur near Nashik. So exhilarated was she at getting to shoot an aircraft, that Shraddha planned the complete shoot in a day’s time and landed at Nashik the very next day. Shraddha says “It was the most challenging experience for me because shooting an aircraft was totally different from shooting an automobile. It is comparatively easy to shoot an automobile where you have full control on these vehicles but in case of aircraft shoot, you do not have that liberty; we have to communicate with the pilot in a very technical way about positioning the aircraft to get a perfect shot. It requires the ‘Speed photography’ where you have to click in one go as soon as you get the right sight. So it involves lot of concentration, presence of mind, energy as well as money. The other most difficult part is capturing images 2000-3000 feet above land, which is certainly no child’s play. Here you have to decide the apt view; aim & click- all in a matter of a few seconds. But this experience definitely augmented my knowledge and taught me to have an eagle’s eye to bring perfection in my task”. Now that doesn’t sound as easy as flying in the airplane but yes the tough girl has come up with some marvellous images which will be used for the marketing of an aviation academy.

YourStory wishes her all the best in her future endeavours.

- as told to Reshma S Kulkarni for YourStory