Haldi, Mehendi & Sangeet Photography in Hadapsar, Pune

Elders and the couple

These functions carry the sharpest split between what the elders want and what the couple want.

The elders want the rituals recorded correctly and completely. The couple want the atmosphere, the friends and the mess.

Both are legitimate and they compete for the same hours, particularly at a haldi which is over quickly.

The resolution is order rather than compromise. The ritual is short and happens at a fixed point; it gets covered properly and then everything else is fair game.

A photographer who spends the ritual chasing candids will produce a set the elders find inadequate, and no amount of atmosphere fixes that.

Equally, a set that stops at the ritual misses everything the couple will actually look at.

Told that both are expected, the whole thing is straightforward. Told neither, it is a guess.

The generational split appears again here and it is sharper than at any other function.

The elders are frequently the ones who know why each part of the ritual is done, and the younger family members are frequently the ones with camera phones.

A set that captures only the second version is missing the part that will matter most in twenty years.

It is also worth agreeing who tells us when something is about to happen.

These functions have no schedule and things begin without announcement, which means a photographer without a well-informed contact spends the day reacting.

One person who knows the sequence, and is willing to say so as it unfolds, changes the entire coverage.