Errikos Andreou, man behind DeepVeer's wedding pics, wants to shoot Priyanka Chopra next

He’s shot the likes of Katrina Kaif, Alia Bhatt, Shahid Kapoor, and Hasan Minhaj, but it's his last project that he has lost his heart to. It's not surprising, as millions in India have lost theirs over his photographs of the DeepVeer wedding.

Errikos Andreou, the man behind the most viral pictures of the year, was the official photographer of the wedding of Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh. He spoke to Moneycontrol about his favourite project till date, and how the wedding was something that was more personal than professional. For Errikos the wedding at Italy's Lake Como was ' as dreamy and real' as it could get.

The Greek photographer, who studied fashion designing before taking up the camera, talks of things that inspire him, and his big dream to shoot Priyanka Chopra someday.

Q: Your photographs have got more than a million likes and shares on social media. You got India the two photographs that took the internet by the storm. Was it difficult to deal with the pressure of covering a celebrity wedding?

A: I have shot individually with Ranveer and Deepika a lot of times before. Once you’ve worked with a celebrity for a considerable amount of time, you know what their comfort zones are, what they like and what they dislike. I’ve shot celebrities from across the world but I have never covered any event, let alone a wedding. I was there in Italy to shoot two people who wanted to document their moment of love.

The event was completely private and was like any other wedding where two people, who are madly in love with each other, tie the knot amidst people who love them and wish them well. Their celebrity status didn’t make their wedding any different from anyone else’s. I shot the two candidly as they celebrated their big moment. It was not like a professional assignment and I wasn’t given any instructions; there were no restrictions either. I was treated like a guest who had a camera and got some nice shots with it.

Q: It’s the wedding season and there would be fans who’d love to have you shoot their special moments too. The question is would they be able to afford you like Deepika and Ranveer?

A: While it is morally incorrect to talk about how much Deepika and Ranveer spent, I can tell you about a small incident that happened years back in my early days in Greece. A woman walked up to me and said she wanted me to take photographs of her son’s baptism ceremony. When I quoted a price, she said she couldn’t afford me. So I gave her a suggestion. I asked her to invest in a camera and give it to the family’s best and closest friend. This is because I believe when someone you know and love captures you in a frame, they do more justice to it.

Q: This one project must have suddenly got you a lot of limelight...

A: Oh yes. I am not a social media person at all, and suddenly I see I have at least 20,000-25,000 more followers on my page. I am sure they'd go away once the wedding craze has cooled off.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself and your line of work.

A: Asking a photographer to talk about him or her is a bad idea. There are either not enough words to talk about our obsessions, or words are too complex. I do fashion photography because I cannot do realism. I am too weak for reality and I am afraid I am too cynical to see it optimistically, so I choose to photograph a constructed one instead.

I approach my photography with the curiosity of a portraitist or a documentarist. My interest is in the story that is going on and the emotion of my hero or heroine. French humanist photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson had said: “A photograph is neither taken nor seized by force. It offers itself up. It is the photo that takes you” and I couldn’t agree more.

I want to be in the same sun as the person in the photo, I want to be able to hear the noises on the background, to want to feel like I can touch their skin. If the viewer can see a fraction of that, I feel successful.

Q: You work with stars who people otherwise see only on TV or through photographs, like the ones you take. Tell us about a moment when you were star struck.

A: I was once shooting the popular model Lily Aldridge who shot for big brands like Victoria Secrets and the likes. She had Michael Kors with her in the frame. I was excited and happy to shoot such people together in a frame. That's where I met stylist Paul Cavaco, and I was star struck!  I have grown up admiring him and his work and this was my moment of being the fan.

Q: You’ve been working in India for over four years now and you’ve shot almost every celebrity one could name. Anyone you dream to work with?

A: I want to shoot Priyanka Chopra. I am a fan of how she started from scratch in Hollywood and is now a star there. She is the one person who is known globally but wouldn’t compromise on her roots. I like the way she addresses issues in India and stays grounded through her journey. Such stories inspire me and it is on my bucket list to shoot her.

Alongside, I also want to work on a coffee table book and put up an exhibition of a personal project I have been working for some time now.