Engineer turned fashion photographer. Born in Mathura. Born into a middle-class family. Growing up, wanting to become a painter,but neither it nor photography was considered financially viable career option by his father, thus ended up studying mechanical engineering. And fast-forwarding to the present moment, being awarded 'The fashion photographer of the year'and also being the first Indian to gain International recognition at the Hasselblad Masters Award. The first Indian whose work was chosen for the Swiss light manufacturer Broncolor’s annual calendar in 2012, which for the first time saw the calendar deviate from its standard imagery and print blurry fashion images. Featured in the Tank, Vogue, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Marie Claire, L’Officiel. Portfolio including Emirates, L’Oréal, Maybelline, Emmar, Adidas, Nokia, Motorola, Pepsi, Hutch, Nestlé, Sony, Nike, Reebok and Lakme. The journey in between was one filled with moments of helplessness, anger, self-doubt and everything more you could imagine, the feeling of no hope. But here's the man who fought it all and managed not to be quitessential. Photography in the fields of fashion was not believed to feed his family's stomach which he proved otherwise. Let's hear from the man himself, Tarun Khiwal, about what it takes to do something different from the cliché.