When two beagles were rescued from a science laboratory, it wasn’t just their lives that turned around for the better. Ashok Chintala, born and raised in Bhimavaram, was introduced to a new world of canine love when he adopted Bruno and Jazz in 2013 and they became the catalysts for his passion, and now a source of income pet photography.
The 31-year-old who works in an operation team for a pharmaceutical company started volunteering with CUPA animal shelter, the organisation that freed the beagles. “I love travelling and my love for photography started with that. But when I adopted Bruno and Jazz from CUPA, I started helping the organisation by taking pictures of the animals there. I then started to volunteer at more animal shelters where people saw my work and asked me to take pictures of their pets and them. I also used to travel from Chennai to Bengaluru because there are so many people wanting to get this done over there. I soon started doing it professionally and started Paws for a Picture. I thought why not get a job in Bengaluru since I can be closer to my passion that way,” he says.
His first major project was taken up to raise funds for the shelters affected by the Chennai floods in November 2015. He says, “I did a couple of calendar shoots for pet parents. I managed to raise Rs 35,000, which was donated. Out of the 12 pictures, most of them would be candid ones. When our dogs jump at us excitedly or lick us lovingly, we won’t be able to capture the moment. That’s when I come in and capture those pictures.”
However, asking animals to say ‘cheese’ is not easy, for obvious reasons. Ashok has got quite a few tricks up his sleeve for this. He says, “You can do this job only if you love pets. It needs lots of compassion and patience. You also need to have a good understanding as to how a dog behaves and what sounds make their expressions change. For this, I give my customers a questionnaire asking them about their favourite toys and treats, their behaviour around other dogs and people, etc. Then I send them instructions a day before the shoot as to what to get with them. Usually it is done at a pet friendly park.”
Ashok has taken pictures of around 200 pets so far and has customers in Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai. Next destination, he says, is Hyderabad, as there are quite a few calls that he has been receiving from here.
