The two of us — Berlin

Two people who see differently.

We are married, which is the least interesting thing about our work. What matters is that we shoot two different crafts in the same room at the same time — and that a moment gets kept twice.

A maternity portrait photographed in Berlin.

A newborn photographed in the studio in Berlin.

Sharmeli, in her wordsNewborn specialist

I photograph the newborns. I trained specifically for it, which in this craft means learning what a five-day-old spine is allowed to do and refusing everything beyond it. I work close and slow, one hand always on the baby, and I will spend forty minutes waiting for a yawn rather than provoke one. My frames are still because I keep the room still.

Ashok, in his wordsPhotography & cinematography — leads the event crew

I have been shooting for over ten years — photography and cinematography, weddings, events and aerial work across four brands before this one. I photograph as much as I film; which one I am doing depends on what the moment needs. In the studio I move while she stays put: circling, finding the reverse angle, catching the hand that reaches into her frame from outside it. On location I lead instead, with a crew sized to the day.

Together — the same second09:41:22

In the newborn studio we take one moment and keep both halves of it — that is why we work as a pair there rather than taking twice as many bookings apart. When only one person is shooting, somebody has to decide whether to keep the yawn or the face watching it. In that room, we never have to. Weddings and events are Ashok's, with the crew; only one of us shoots those.

The same two faces, start to finish.

In the newborn studio, from your first message to your finished gallery it is only ever the two of us — no rotating staff, no editing sent overseas. One of us edits every photograph; the other cuts every film. When you hand over a nine-day-old baby, you are handing them to two people you have already spoken to. On an event, the crew changes with the day, but the person directing it and grading it does not.

We photograph families from every community in Berlin. Our own background means some traditions we simply know — nobody has to stop and explain a seemantham so that we are ready for it — and for everything else we ask in advance rather than improvise on the day. Either way the work is the same: pay attention, stay out of the way, keep what cannot be repeated.

We work out of Berlin, in a room kept warm enough for a baby to be undressed in, and we travel for the days that are worth travelling for.

Come and meet us before you decide.

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