Today we’d like to introduce you to Kaushal Shah.
Kaushal, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My name is Kaushal Shah and I’m a cinematographer by profession.
I shoot Films, documentaries, and commercials for a living.
I started out working as a DIT in the Indian film industry at the age of 17. I worked on a bunch of films and commercials and observed lots of cinematographers at work.
I then enrolled myself into a film school in Bombay, India, to study narrative filmmaking with a specialization in cinematography.
Meanwhile, I’ve continued to shoot in the States and back home in India and sometimes in a few other countries in Asia and South America.
To find Indian DP’s working in India and abroad is rare since it is very difficult for the world to somehow believe that the technicians from there are capable enough.
Things have changed now, and I feel our backgrounds in shooting under challenging circumstances back there, a unique, unexplored eye and a very gritty social background all of it help shape us as very competitive artists globally.
I’ve been trying to get work varying in style too. I try to mix it up with doing glossy commercials to rugged real documentaries and my most favorite narrative work.
I’ve shot a feature. A full-length drama series for Amazon, both of which shall be released in the next few months. And I’m prepping my second series for amazon right now.
I’ve shot a bunch of commercials, documentaries, and narrative projects that you can see on my Vimeo page.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I think the struggle in its core is to find artists who’d probably be wanting to be making the kind of films you’d want to be a part of.
Yes, one has to be skilled and has to know the craft, but the real trick lies in being at the right place at the right time.
To get to DP the kind of cinema you want to be a part of can be difficult, with so much content happening all around you, to be able to filter out what you really want to shoot that shapes you into the artist you aspire to be is the most difficult part.
Please tell us about your work.
I’m a Cinematographer/Filmmaker.
I specialize in narrative cinematography.
To be able to visually tell a story in the right way, not just beautifully technically but to be invisible when the story demands and to be able to choose when and how to do things only and only for a story is what I believe is what I’ve always wanted to do learn and exercise.
My Background In documentary really helps with not just speed but also just the aesthetic of what the nature of the field demands today.
It really helps zero down utilizing the utmost essential to achieve the maximum. With slashing budgets and sometimes difficult locations and environments, it is a skill that always helps make the right choice.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I have never as a Cinematographer assisted any senior DP. I started shooting from the get-go. I would probably work under a few senior DP’s to quickly understand the system like a few of my other peers.
Although there is its own magic in being able to figure it out all by yourself with time and experience.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kaushaldp.com
- Phone: +13233172971 (USA) and +917738246797
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/kaushal_dp
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