Sephi Bergerson is a Documentary and life style photographer with almost twenty years of experience. Previously the President of the professional photographers association in Israel, Sephi had moved to India with his wife and daughter and is based in Delhi since 2002.

His coffee table album ‘Shaadi Galore – Traditional Weddings in Modern India’ will be published in 2009. He has also photographed ‘Wedding Bells – the trendy guide to organizing your wedding in India’ scheduled for publication by Random House in September 2008.

Sephi, the photographer
Born in Tel Aviv in 1965 to parents who came to Israel from Poland after the jewish Holocaust of World War ll, Sephi grew up in Israel and served in the Israeli army for three years in a front line reconnaissance infantry unit. At the end of his military service he moved to New York where the idea of becoming a photographer started taking shape.

He came back to Israel in 1989 and enrolled into one of Israel’s top photography schools and in 1991 opened a successful commercial photography studio in Tel Aviv. In 2001 he was elected president of the professional photographer’s association in Israel and held this position until February 2002 when he closed his studio in Tel Aviv and shifted to India with his wife and ten months old baby to pursue his dream and become a documentary photographer.

His book on the Street Food of India, a work of over four years, will be published in January 2009. ‘Shaadi Galore – Traditional Weddings in Modern India’ is his second book and will be published in March 2009.

‘Wedding Bells – the trendy guide to organizing your wedding in India’ is scheduled for publication by Random House in November 2008 Married to Shefi and father to Liah, Sephi is now based in New Delhi and is working on personal and commercial-documentary projects.

What cities do you work in?
I am based in New Delhi but travel quite a bit, mostly in India on various commercial and documentary projects, but also elsewhere in Asia. I’ve lived in Tel- Aviv, NY and in Paris and feel comfortable anywhere in the world.

Your Photography Style
I’m a commercial-documentary photographer. My tools are the tools of a documentary photographer but I cater to commercial clients with a photojournalistic approach to their projects. Weddings are not my main subject but I fell in love with it during the year I was working on the ‘Shaadi Galore’ wedding book in India. I feel that my images of Indian weddings show a very new approach to this fantastic phenomenon.

As a photojournalist I let the images arise naturally and spontaneously and the subjects are not given any direction on what to do. I try to interact with the subject as little as possible and capture my images in such a way as to tell the viewer what was really going on without the need for any words to explain the situation. So for example, instead of yelling, “Hey you, look over here and smile!” I would be trying to watch your interaction with your guests while positioning myself at a good angle so that I could catch you in the act of actually smiling and laughing with your friends.

The difference between the two styles is dramatic. Working in a photojournalistic style is MUCH more difficult for the photographer but the reward is that your pictures are REAL!

Your choice of camera/ lens
This is a never ending issue with many people who want to know which camera I use. I work with Nikon only because I feel comfortable with it’s ergonomic compatibility, but the equipment is really never the issue. I use very bright lenses with open aperture that enables me to work as much as possible with available light without using flash.

Black & white Vs. Color photography – your thoughts
With today’s digital cameras this decision can be taken later on as conversion from color to B&W has never been easier, and so the photographer does not have to decide which film he uses. In general I feel that Indian weddings call for color images and I prefer to work in color. Never the less, I often decide to cover the preparations and the behind the scene in B&W.

Indian wedding photos suffer from excessive use of flash – what’s your take?
Sadly this is very true as most of the Indian photographers working in the market today only see themselves as a tool to make sure all the guests are in the pictures to avoid any embarrassments. This is unfortunate as they do not make a difference between weddings and even if they work with off-camera flash, their lighting is always the same, many times very unflattering.

I hardly ever use flash at all and will always prefer to work with the available light using very open lenses that enable me to work in low light conditions. This enables me to capture the true feel of the event and the images look very close to what people actually experienced. As I work without a flash, it is easier for people to ignore my presence and be more natural, resulting in better images.

Post processing and Album design
I always shoot high quality RAW files that are then converted into DNG for further processing in Adobe Lightroom. All images are then color corrected and the final output is a DVD with high resolution JPG files, and a folder with smaller, low resolution JPGs for web usage.

I do not make albums and rather give a DVD with all the images (minus the rejects) of the shoot and clients retain full ‘Home Use Rights’ to the images. This basically means they can use the images for personal, non-commercial uses. They may make as many prints as they like for themselves, or to give away as gifts. they may also place low resolution (72dpi) copies of the images on their personal website for viewing as long as prints are not offered for sale. This way the couple is never confronted with any unanticipated expenses after the wedding is over. My fee is fixed and includes all expenses. No Hidden costs.

Your favourite wedding photos
The images I love the most are such that can stand on their own regardless of the specific event or the actual wedding. An image that tells something and has a value beyond the esthetic, a deeper cultural statement that reveals a hidden content that is otherwise obscure form the eye. This kind of image is very hard to get and I find that it only presents itself when I know where and when to wait for it to happen.

A wedding photography experience that you wont forget
I was at a reception of a Sikh wedding. The wedding was the day before and this party was pure fun, no religious ceremony. Guests were having a good time but there was nothing ‘interesting’ to shoot. The evening was not going to pick up more than it had already and at one point after getting my share of ok images, I decided to leave. I was a little disappointed of course. This was a large farm house outside of Delhi and at the gate was a little unexpected crowd. I came closer, on the way to get my car and realized that an argument was taking place but it all seemed like a well played show. There was a group of Hijras, members of what is usually considered in India as ‘the third sex’ – neither man nor women. Hijras show up to perform religious ceremonies at weddings and at the birth of male babies, involving music, singing, and sexually suggestive dancing. These are intended to bring good luck and fertility. Although the hijra are most often uninvited, the host usually pays the hijras a fee. Many fear the hijras’ curse if they are not appeased, bringing bad luck or infertility, but for the fee they receive, they can bless goodwill and fortune on to the newly born or the newly wed couple.

One cannot anticipate when or where they will show up so cannot plan to photograph them, but I needed pictures of this ‘ceremony’ for my book and there it was. I had my camera still on me and I started shooting using the light form the passing cars and the street lamp. They where acting out, trying to embarrass me using obscene gestures and profane language but I was so happy I was simply smiling and taking pictures. the whole event ended peacefully as money changed hands to everyones relief and I had my pictures.

Advice for to-be-wed couples
A wedding is an important, and an expensive, event and when people pay a lot of money they are sometimes very nervous and want things to work. Your own wedding is the day when you are not suppose to worry at all. once everything is ready to go you should simply relax and let the event play itself in the best way possible. From the photographer’s point of view, I appreciate the fact that you try to make me feel comfortable but i prefer that you simply ignore me. I tell all the couples as well as the close family members that during the event they should simply attend to their guests and be happy and not worry about me and how i work. Pretend I do not exist and the pictures will come out the best.