The Mum Behind The Lens

After five years of snapping happy memories for mums and babies, ace maternity and baby photographer Tarveen Modasia, aka The Looney Lens, gets to walk a mile in her client’s shoes with her baby Angad

- Kriselle Fonseca

For someone who spends a large part of her day around mums and babies, I was pleasantly surprised when Tarveen tells me that parenthood was never part of her plan. “We enjoyed our freedom with no responsibilities,” she says. She does not shy away from admitting that finding out about her pregnancy was more of an emotional breakdown than an unparalleled joy—after all, a baby of her own simply wasn’t the goal. However, as this new mum gets in front of the camera for a change, she looks back on a tough nine months that made way for an unconditional and deep-found love for her baby, and gave her a brand new outlook to life. Hear her story in her words....

THE TWO OF US

I worked a nine-to-five job after graduation, but I always had a passion for photography. One day, I met up with a close friend to chat over coffee. During our conversation, she not only startled me by announcing that she was pregnant, but also wanted me to capture her joy with that camera I always lugged around! While I enjoyed photographing random subjects from time to time, photographing someone on request was not something I had pottered with before. While I was debating my decision, she ordered a chocolate brownie for me, and with just one bite of the heavenly bribe in my mouth, my fate was sealed. In January 2015, I decided to put a name to it, and that’s how ‘The Looney Lens Photography’ came to life. It was one of the best and most courageous decisions of my life.