Current Occupation: Senior Android Engineer
Workshops: Bali: Island of the Gods, Burma Travel Photography, & Project Colombia  
Instructors: Jamie Rose, John Christopher Anderson, Seth Butler, Emanuel Echeverri

Photo © Rom Srinivasan/Momenta Workshops 2017

1. What motivated you to take a workshop and why did you pick Momenta?

I had planned to go on my first international tourist trip to Egypt to visit a good friend and decided to purchase my first DSLR so I could have memories of the trip. When I came back from Egypt, two things happened. After seeing my images, all my friends said I had a good eye and, independently, I started getting ads from Nikon, triggered by my DSLR purchase, about photography trips.

As my trip had kindled a burning desire for both travel and photography, I thought a photography trip would be a great idea. So I went on a few trips with different operators and met Jamie Rose. I had learned a lot, as a complete beginner, on the other trips but I felt like a learned a lot more from Jamie in just a few days. So when Momenta started offering their own trips, it was a no brainer.

2. What surprised you most about the country you visited or the experience of working with a nonprofit?

Surprisingly, of my four Momenta workshops, Colombia was the only nonprofit workshop. What surprised me most was the spirit and determination of the people working at the nonprofits. I worked with mostly animal rights nonprofits, and despite living in a very meat-centric country and receiving little financial support, these organizations are thriving.

3. What was the best lesson you took away from your workshop?

How much the order and selection of individual photos in a photo story impact its overall effectiveness.

4. What was your favorite photograph from this workshop & why?

Just getting access to take this picture was not easy. The founder of the sloth sanctuary had had a bad experience with a BBC “journalist” who had used pictures of baby sloths for her own financial gain, so gaining her trust and permission to get close to the animals was a difficult process. And while I don’t mean to anthropomorphize, the look on baby sloth’s face seems to suggest a weary trust and hopefulness in the humans around it.

5. What would you tell a potential student to help them prepare for their experience with Momenta?

Become very familiar with your camera and how it works. There are so many other aspects of photography to learn about that spending time on the mechanical aspects of a specific camera would be the least effective use of everyone’s time. 

Rom Srinivasan’s Biography:

I focus on the advantages of lighting, composition, and angles to present you at your best: your mood, emotion, and character. I believe a photograph should reflect who you are and tell your story in the most compelling form.

For the past few years I have photographed and worked with children and with non-profit organizations. These encounters have helped me develop an eye for capturing the subtle and fleeting emotions and moments that make profound and beautiful memories, and photographs.

I am available for family and children portraits, social media portraits, and events. I am also available to help non-profit organizations present their work and the impact they have on their communities. I am based in San Francisco and am willing to travel.

See Rom’s work: 

Website: http://www.romsrini.name