Kishore Sawh

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Among other things I am, at heart, a photographer. But perhaps above that, I’m simply someone who truly loves and appreciates photographs, and in the sort of prototypical way the Gods like to exercise humor, that appreciation has led to it becoming my life’s work.

It probably warrants stating that I choose not to practice photography as a primary vocation – my shoots don’t fund my life, though I do make my living in the broader realm of the industry. It’s a part I find more cerebral, and I enjoy that.

And things have worked out quite well. I was previously Editor-In-Chief of a prominent photography blog until I needed something much bigger, and that bigger and better thing is where I find myself now – as Director of Strategy for a company called PixelShift, where my partners and I do market and hardware analysis, media development, strategy for a myriad of business facets – and more – for our clients, among whom are Sony Digital Imaging and Phase One/Capture One.

I love what I do and those I work with. Genuine affection, I’m talkin’ about.

Still, there was a bit of a smudge in the polish of it all. Well, more of a chip really, on my shoulder. I’ve always wanted to shoot more, but there are just not enough hours in the day where I can get out and play.

But that’s changing a bit. In fact, shooting as much as possible is, I think, an irreplaceable element that weaves into all the other work I do, and I would say that’s relevant to anyone reading this. The benefit of paying my penance over time, however, is that now I shoot what I want, and when.

What that ends up mostly being is fashion portraiture and military aviation.

My passion for aircraft and aviation is a lifelong affliction, and it’s the kind of passion that metastasizes into every part of my life. The interest in photographing people came sometime in my early 20s, where I really began to devour the work of the Baileys, Webers, Testinos, and Lindberghs of the world, and it was clear I wanted to photograph women. So that’s what I did. That’s what I do.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that I live in what amounts to be the country’s ‘G-spot’ (Miami) – as I type, it’s SwimWeek and the city is pulsing with beautiful people, and I shoot a lot of agency models – but I’d have done it anywhere.

As Shotkit has its genesis in gear, this is as good a moment as any to speak about that, and what you’ll notice with my set-up is that it’s minimalist, but focused.

Sony is my company of choice for cameras since 2018. I was a longtime Nikon and Minolta shooter (irony), but in an age of sensors over celluloid, photography is a digital endeavor, and Sony is the tip of the spear.

My daily is an A7R III with a vertical grip, A7 III for back-up, a Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 GM, Sony 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM, and the Zeiss Batis 135mm f/2.8. I also use a lot of flags, scrims, and reflectors in my work, most of which are too big to see here, but I do rely a lot on California Sunbounce equipment, so they had to be featured, and lights change depending.

On the smaller and random side, I’ll always have a good length of duvetyne with me, grip clips, a bunch of LaCie portable drives, Bose Soundlink Mini II, my MacBook Pro, and iPad Pro. And almost always can be found with much of that in a WANDRD PRVKE backpack or their HEXAD. And when I get back to my desk, you’ll find numerous Wacom tablets from Intuos Pro to Cintiq Pro to MobileStudio Pro, and Palette. I’m doing all editing with Capture One Pro and Photoshop – there are no substitutes.

For the moment you can find my images on my IG (link below).

Gear:

Sony A7R III
Sony A7 III
Sony VG-C3EM Vertical Grip
ZEISS Batis 135mm f/2.8
Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM
Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6
WANDRD PRVKE 21L
WANDRD HEXAD Access 45L Duffel with Wandrd Medium Camera Cubes Kit (x2)
Hensel Parabolic Umbrella, 32″
Photek SoftLighter Umbrella with Removable 8mm Shaft (60″)
Sunbounce Sun-Bouncer Pro Reflector Kit with Silver/White Screen
Sunbounce Micro Mini Sun-Bounce Kit – Silver/White Screen (2×3′)
Wacom 13.3″ MobileStudio Pro 13
Wacom Intuos Pro (Medium)
Palette Aluminum Expert Control Surface Kit
LaCie 20TB 2big Dock 2-Bay RAID Array Thunderbolt 3
LaCie 5TB Rugged Mobile Hard Drive (Thunderbolt & USB 3.0 Type-C)
LaCie 2TB DJI Copilot BOSS External Hard Drive
Apple 12.9″ iPad Pro (Late 2018, 512GB, Wi-Fi Only, Space Gray)
Apple 13.3″ MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (Mid 2019, Space Gray)
BenQ Sw271
Datacolor Spyder5Elite
Hawkesmill Straps – beautiful and reliable
Matthews C-Stands