Just another storm

Regular Sunday. Sitting on my couch in the study room, making notes for reviewing a photography book, had just turned on the laptop to check my Twitter feed when, suddenly, the power was cut.

It’s summers here in North India, which usually means that the air-conditioner is running and I can hear almost nothing of the sounds outside my window. And the authorities cut the power usually when rain and strong winds are suspected, which I wasn’t expecting today because it had been a bright day. I got up, peeked out my window and saw trees swishing around in the wind. Almost instantly, there was a slight drizzle and I could see storm clouds. I jumped toward my camera that is usually resting on my work table and unlocked the balcony doors and stepped out.

There was already a puddle of water and the door slammed shut behind me. The outside of the door doesn’t have a door-handle so I was stuck till someone came from inside and opened the door for me. But I was hardly aware of that as I started making some images. There wasn’t much going on but I kept my eye on the viewfinder and shot the surroundings. The rain started lashing at me and I got the camera wet a bit and then the door was opened and I shot back inside.

Storm clouds, sunset and rain. Photography by professional Indian lifestyle photographer Naina Redhu of Naina.co

After the above picture, I was a tad disappointed at not catching something nice in the frame, yet happy to have been soaked a little in the rain and drenched in the cool breeze and the general feeling of elation that accompanies rains. [ For me personally. I love rains. ] I downloaded the images to the desktop and nonchalantly scrolled through them picking out three that I thought I could do “something” with. My eye was also on the window to my side to check if the sky was changing. It did. And I was out again.

Storm clouds, sunset and rain. Photography by professional Indian lifestyle photographer Naina Redhu of Naina.co

I shot the above and was elated that I had managed to get in a few frames with color and the frame with the birds. Yay! Now I could think about making a blog post out of it. I know storm photographs are overrated – especially when you’re on a balcony on the fourth floor in a residential society in the so-called metropolitan city of Noida, but I like making pictures.

So I downloaded this batch as well and selected a few – again glancing out the window – you know – just in case. And there it was. A glorious break in the clouds. I literally dropped whatever I was doing, unplugged the camera and dashed out again. This time I was met by a wall of mosquitoes and the light didn’t seem like it would stay long so I snapped up whatever I could get – only the sky this time because no other subject or point of interest was needed. One happy panda I am. Serendipity and Noida power cuts. Who would have thought?

Storm clouds, sunset and rain. Photography by professional Indian lifestyle photographer Naina Redhu of Naina.co

Gorgeous, glorious Sunday it has turned out to be. I hope you got a glimpse of the sky too. Some of my previous sky blog posts : here and here.

Naina Redhu is a professional photographer & visual artist.

Her career, spanning 16 years, started with an MBA in IT & Systems, to a job as an Innovation Management Consultant, to branding & graphic design work for international clients, to a full-time solo-entrepreneurship as an Experience Collector.

Naina started her blog 16 years ago and it has evolved from writing about Creativity & Innovation, to sharing case studies about Branding & Graphic Design to finally a destination for some of the leading Luxury & Lifestyle brands as Naina writes features for these brands and photographs them.

Having traveled all over India as a child ( the advantage of having a father serving in the Indian Army ), she is also well-traveled across Europe ( Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, Italy and France ), Asia ( Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam ), America ( New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco ), and Canada.

Naina has her own podcast called The Naina Redhu Experience, where she talks about the business and professional aspects of photography, blogging and influencer marketing in India.

Her abstract art, under the KhaosPhilos label can be shopped on the Naina.co online store and she is available for bespoke commissions as well.

"The New Rules of Online Brand Building", Naina's on-ground workshop, recently wrapped up its 7th Edition. Launched in 2018, "Workshops By Naina" is going to be seeing more editions across the country & online.

Naina is also available for hire as a Speaker. She has been invited as a Keynote Speaker at a blogging conference and also speaks about the business of photography in India.

Always learning & evolving online, she has presence across several online spaces including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, TikTok and her podcast can be found on all podcast channels and apps.