Hi, i'm Rishi and I am a

From “tai-ya, tai-hi”

to “click, click”

At a young age of 5 I started to have many interests for different Indian art forms. From painting and writing to drama and dancing. First I started with Kathak classes at the age of 5. Later I also started to take classes in Ballet, Bihari Folk Dances and Bharatanatyam, to name a few. My dance teacher and mentor in Bihar recommended me to go to Chennai and continue my studies there at the renowned Kalakshetra Foundation. At the age of 16 I moved to the state of Tamil Nadu and became a Student at the Kalakshetra Foundation, where I graduated in the year of 2020. Already during the college days, I was interested in capturing the beauty of dance with the simple smartphone camera I had available at that time. Hence, in my 2nd year of college, I bought a second-hand camera, with wich I was finally able to live and explore more and more of my passion for photography.

Starting the Studio

After graduating from the Kalakshetra Foundation, at the time of the pandemic and lockdown, I got a job opportunity as a dance teacher at the Isha Foundation Samskriti in Coimbatore. I taught dance there for 1.5 years, but always attached to my camera, continued to capture dancers and artists around me. During the time at Samskriti, I got a Job opportunity at one of the biggest photography and videography studios in Chennai. During my time at the Studio, I started to get more and more private requests for photoshoots of different dancers in and around Chennai. After a short time I allready would get so many requests, that I decided to leave the Studio, so I would have more time to accept more projects and grow in the field of dance photography. Since then I was blessed with meeting many great artists of different art forms, working with them and explored many new fields.

Learning about fabrics, costume design, color theory, temple jewelry, makeup, and other important aspects of a Bharatanatyam dancer, I always had a slight interest in exploring more in the field of fashion. That desire slowly grew over time, to the point that in September 2023, I joined a one-year Fashion Photography Course in Mumbai and learned under the amazing photographer and teacher Victoria Krundysheva. In September, I successfully graduated from the FAD International Academy Mumbai, and since then, I have continued working as a photographer in the field of classical Indian dance while continuing to explore and grow in fashion photography.

Today the Rishi Raj Studio consist of a Team of 5 members, in which everyone comes from a dance or other artistic background. We share the same passion for arts, creating and capturing the beauty in a frame.

We love what we do and do what we love.

Dance Photos

of Rishi, from the time at Kalakshetra

Media

Interviews & more of Rishi

Lens of an Artiste

“There are many possibilities in terms of creativity and innovation, and I feel with the camera one can explore a lot. There is no end when it comes to creativity. Starting with the dancer, the make-up, costume or outfit, colours, backdrop, location, or finding the angle, framing, creating the composition or using software like Photoshop to edit the photos, the possibilities are endless.”

Dancer, Photographer, Dance Photographer

“Rishi Raj believes that creativity comes from experience, it is not something that needs to be taught. He explains that originality is creating, while creativity is taking the juice out of it and presenting it beautifully. He states that people often ask him how he captures the perfect frame of dance so well, even though he never pursued a course in photography. This made him realize that the dancer in him helps him to anticipate the movement.”

Steps that click

“Trained Bharatanatyam dancer Rishi Raj frames flair on Instagram feeds, armed with the unique talent to capture, freeze, and bring alive dance movements.”