Soumyajyoti Dutta is a 26-year fashion model and photographer in Noida. Originally, he comes from West Bengal. His father was in the Ministry of External Affairs, therefore he was born and brought up outside India. Soumyajyoti was born in Mozambique, Africa, and spent his childhood in different places such as Turkey, Armenia, Mexico, New Zealand. After finishing his schooling in New Zealand, Saumyajyoti moved back to India by the end of 2012.
Credits: @raghavbhatia_
After coming back to India, Soumyajyoti got enrolled himself for BA in sociology but later lost interest. Soumyajyoti, then joined Amity University for mass communication and journalism as he loves photography.
“I joined Amity and there I got into photography professionally. Earlier, I used to do school yearbook projects and randomly took pictures. One of my best gifts on birthday was a camera. My grandfather was very passionate about photography and so my father. I realized photography is something I wanted to do”.
Later, Soumyajyoti did a diploma in professional photography. At that time he was suggested by his friends to join the modeling industry. They told him that he is tall, looks good, and can try for modeling. Soumyajyoti then sent his profile to various agencies. Somehow, he managed to contact the agency Anima creatives and joined it.
“I joined the agency and started the modeling. Modeling and photography went really well hand in hand. Through modeling I made connections. Also, I get to see professional photographers working and how they do things. Doing modeling and photography is a mix and match of both the profession and I enjoy doing it”.
Credits: Soumyajyoti
Presently, Soumyajyoti is focusing more on photography. As he considers photography more stable than modeling. The modeling industry is going slow because of the pandemic. Modeling puts a lot of stress on him of always being in shape and fit.
“With modeling, it put a lot of stress on me to eat healthy and be on a certain diet. I have to work a lot on myself. Sometimes, I do not feel like going to the gym. It is a tough industry, it puts a lot of physical and mental strain on oneself. Modeling can sometimes do get one down a lot”.
Being brought up in different places when asked how did it affect his childhood, Soumyajyoti replied that he had friends from different cultures and very few Indian friends in school. The culture and the way people conduct themselves are very different. Discussing more, Soumyajyoti said
“In foreign, considering education they are much more open. One is allowed to choose the subject of their choice. We do not have to choose between science, art and commerce, like one have to do here in India. If I would have continued my further studies from New Zealand it would not been such a huge problem. But in India it is much more restricted in streamwise. Things have started to change here but it will take time”.
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Soumyajyoti got his first project as a model in 2018. It was with the e-commerce company in Bangalore and was a campaign. He got through his agency. The campaign was for four days and he could not make it on the first day. Sharing his experience, Soumyajyoti revealed,
“I messed it up. I was in Dhanualti for a non page shoot with a photographer. The shoot was supposed to be on weekend. By sunday we were about to return to Delhi and on monday I had flight for Bangalore. After shoot, van broke down in middle of nowhere. I missed my flight. I booked my own ticket to Bangalore the other day due to which I had to miss the first day of shoot”.
Credits: @ashayambe
Soumyajyoti left his agency amidst the pandemic because he could not stay in Mumbai anymore. Currently, he works as a freelance model. However, he feels being a freelance model is not an easy task. One has to approach clients on own, maintaining budgets and managing everything on your own. Moreover, Soumyajyoti also considers working as a freelance model, he has the freedom to choose his projects and has no restrictions.
Soumyajyoti loves traveling. One of his favorite places is Cancun in Mexico and a village in Montreal, Canada. w He has been there twice and stayed there for a couple of months. Besides, Soumyajyoti has traveled for shoots to many places such as Goa, Bangalore, Faridabad, and more. One of his favorite experiences while traveling for a shoot was in Goa.
“It was a television commercial for a bike company, JAWA Moto. It was insanely amazing, we traveled throughout the state of Goa. The location was absolutely amazing and we had a lot of fun”.
Credits: @shutterbug_nong
According to Soumyajyoti, the best part of being a model is meeting new people and making more connections. He believes male models do not have the same opportunity as female models in India. Also, he feels that India needs a lot more advancement in fashion. A lot of campaigns are similar to each other. He too feels that many designers’ works are similar. Furthermore, Soumyajyoti wants newcomers should be given more chances in the industry. He said there are few models who are constantly working and getting projects but on the other hand, there are people with no work at all. In the end, Soumyajyoti advised aspiring models by saying,
“Do not compromise on your own physical and mental health. Initially, there will be rejections. There are people in the industry who are upfront and may seem rude but do not get demotivated, in the end it is just a buisness. But also take constructive criticism as an opportunity to improve yourself. Do what makes you happy. Do not change yourself for the industry”.
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