Luxury Life & Style - Westside - (Page 42)

tHE art of raj naik Kingdom by beauty. It’s very relaxing, very soothing. Hopefully that comes through in the photographs and affects people the same way. EH: What’s your process like? RN: I take one element, like the branch of a tree, and start layering. It’s like a puzzle and not all the pieces are needed. It’s intuitive; I don’t have an end result in my head. I just know when it’s done. The core of my graphic design and fine art work happens really fast. And then I spend a long, long time fine-tuning, making little changes here and there. Sometimes it’s a day, sometimes five days, sometimes I let it sit for two months and then I’ll finish it. But I do try to work on something new every day, whether it’s 15 minutes or half an hour or photographing something. Choice a year or two later. I sold stacks and stacks of them – until my mom eventually put a stop to it, since she felt I wasn’t studying enough. EH: What are you trying to accomplish with your work? RN: My fine art is just expression; there’s no real meaning. It’s just for me, creating something, getting into that zone. It’s selfish, really. But if other people like it, great! My graphic design is a collaboration. Certain clients want certain things done a certain way, which pushes me in directions I wouldn’t go on my own and forces me to look at things differently. That’s not a bad thing. You learn EH: What do you want people to get out of looking at your art? RN: Just a sense of peace and stillness. Photographing in the Himalayas, you’re surrounded 42 luxury life & Style Premiere Issue 2008 Photos courtesy of Raj Naik. from that. It’s easy for me to listen to music and say, okay, this is what the album cover should look like. But in the music industry, there are so many people involved. You’ve got the artist, the manager, the label people, the marketing company, the P.R. company – they’re all giving you input, and I actually like that. I used to fight; I wanted it my way. Now I’m more open to others’ opinions and the right thing falls into place with the work. EH: How has your art changed you? RN: You know, most people go to India in December when the weather is really nice, but it’s very hazy then. These days I like to go in monsoon season when it rains. Sometimes you sit in a cab for two hours, waiting, waiting, waiting, and then you have a 15-minute window when the sun comes through and clears up all the haze. I cherish waiting for that light. I didn’t have that when I was younger, the waiting. I was so trigger-happy, I just wanted to shoot anything and everything and then leave. These days, I’m like, eh, if I don’t get to photograph anything today, it’s fine. I can kind of let go of things now. To see more of Raj’s work, check out his Web site at rajnaik.com. • rajnaik.com

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