Photographer, teacher and podcaster, Sreenag BRS of Sreenag Pictures Photography has partnered with Design Dekko to feature his column encompassing stories, annecdotes and experiences while producing his podcast Everything Comes Together. As a preface to the column, he writes: 

When you were in high school, you come face-to-face with some important, life-changing decisions. Perhaps it's unfair to thrust these decisions upon teenager who is neither allowed to drive or nor vote, but such is the way things work. People around you casually or intensely want to know what you want to do in life. And then they want to help chart a course to get you there. 

Such paths rarely work out as easily.

Along the way, you would inevitably come across inspiring people, chance occurrences, major challenges, strokes of luck, hard work and so much more that complete you as a person. Almost none of these things have to do with the actual work you do. Every one of these things has to do with who you are.

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As a photographer myself, and an architectural photographer at that, I'm well aware that creative people often live in the background, working for years to put out content that anyone can appreciate. Often those that appreciate the work, know nothing about the person behind the work. And this is where I come in. Even as I come from a family of creative people, I struggled through school: a system that was not made for someone like me. If it were not for those around me (and to some extent, my own doggedness), the system would have left me behind.

As I've continued my own journey as a photographer, I've enjoyed many opportunities to teach workshops and classes, where I am asked questions related to the practical side of the job: taking the right decision, convincing family that what you do is the right thing, starting a business, running a business, handling clients, and so many more.

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These are also the things that fascinated me the most when I listen to podcast interviews with entrepreneurs. Slowly, I started to understand that I needed a podcast of my own, where I would speak to people like you and me: creative people who had a variety of experiences and challenges you and I may not have faced, but their stories may inspire us to look at our own journey's differently. At the very least, these stories could help provide us with much needed validation. My goals for the podcast were also a bit loftier: I wanted to document the lives of as many creative people as I could, specifically those in the fields in which I have some experience: photography, architecture & design.

After months of planning, Everything Comes Together came to be. I've been lucky that I've been able to get some great guests right from the first episode, even during the pandemic - equipment unavailability during lockdown and recording interviews remotely, not withstanding

In addition to this, it was important for me to ensure that each episode was well researched and planned. Pre-interviews and other research takes place before each interview's taping, followed by careful edits to make sure nothing useful is lost, while naturally drawing the conversation forward.

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The show and the guests have been getting some great attention and this series of articles for Design Dekko is just the latest. As a regular feature going forward, I will write an article plucking highlights from two episodes of the podcast. In the first series of articles, you will hear from an architect who worked with Geoffrey Bawa, a photographer who shot for AR Rahman, a woman who was discouraged from starting a business and then trained herself to be an ace food stylist, two young architects who trained close to 400 architecture students and the list of amazing achievements go on and on.

I hope this will give you something both interesting and useful to look forward to. Before you start watching the full interviews, I only have one tip: these are long-form interviews, so hit play on the episode and go about your day. Allow their stories to wash over you and normally mundane tasks would seem that little bit more enjoyable.

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