Capturing special moments for club-goers at night with handy prints as keepsakes

Sanjay Nageshwar Tiwari works six nights, for most clubs remain closed on Mondays.

THE CITY’S nightlife could remain undocumented if it were not for moments captured and posted on social media, in newspapers and elsewhere. Professional party photographer Sanjay Nageshwar Tiwari, who roams around the city on his motorcycle with his instant prints camera knows that, for his job entails capturing special moments for club-goers, with handy prints as keepsakes. Tiwari (48) says he starts his night around 9 pm, often working till 7 am. “Depending on the club’s invitation, I plan my night. I have to go, click pictures of the people partying and hand them a print instantly, for which they are charged.” He usually visits more than one club in a night, and heads home after dawn, to get some sleep until 4 pm. “After that I help my wife with household chores and then leave for work again,” he adds.

He works six nights, for most clubs remain closed on Mondays. A father of three, his two sons have also chosen photography as a career.
For Tiwari, it all began at the Gateway of India where he was selling cold-drinks to make a living. There he met Dhananjay Waghmare, his ‘guru’. “I will always remember Waghmare because when I was selling cold drinks at the Gateway of India, he would click pictures of tourists. He taught me photography, after which I decided to buy a Polaroid camera. That was in 1995,” says Tiwari, who has been a professional photographer for 23 years.

Tiwari started clicking photographs of tourists at the Gateway as a youngster, and got lucky when his work was noticed by a manager of a popular cafe on Colaba Causeway. “One day he called me and asked whether I was interested in clicking pictures for a party. So, a party was organised at Headquarter Café in 1995, for which I was hired,” he recounts.

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That first party assignment in a café in 1995 gave Tiwari his kickstart, and soon he was getting calls for all kinds of parties, almost everyday. Having built a network of party organisers and venue managers, Tiwari now employs a 20-member team that operates under the name of ‘S N Tiwari’.

His team members, who all work long nights, are people he trained himself. “If I had not been given a chance in my early days, I would not have been here… So, I have kept away from hiring professional photographers, as I would rather train someone and help them build a career. If anyone approaches me for a job, I ask them to accompany me for the first 15 nights,” says Tiwari. He trains such youngsters, watches their work and then decides if they are good candidates to hire.

Weekends are busier than weeknights, and the festival season or holiday season also sees his team members busy every night.