This article explores the transformative journey of Balwinder Bhatla, also known as “Mr Whisper”, a former Creative Director who transitioned into a celebrated street photographer. It highlights his early experiments with social media, the pivotal role of Instagram in discovering his passion for street photography and his subsequent switch to using a Fujifilm X-T1 camera. This switch enabled him to specialise in low-light photography, leading to commercial success and recognition as a Fujifilm ambassador. The article culminates in the announcement of his debut photography book, London After Dark, which captures the vibrant nocturnal life of the city and marks a significant milestone in his career.
Before I became a commercial photographer, I worked full-time as a Digital/Social Creative Director in a variety of ad agencies in London, working with clients such as Apple and Samsung. During my last few years, I noticed how social media was becoming increasingly essential in the campaign work I was doing. Being someone who likes to practise what they preach, I would try my hand and have a presence on every prominent social platform. This is where I began to use the name “Mr Whisper”. I had always used this name for passion projects that I would work on outside of office hours to keep my creative juices flowing.
At the time with social networks being such a new territory, I didn’t trust putting my real name on each platform. So, I brought back my moniker Mr Whisper. I tweeted on Twitter, I had a blog on Tumblr and WordPress and I also would upload photos to Flickr via my mobile phone using an SMS code. I even dabbled on YouTube uploading random videos. However, I wasn’t very good and didn’t gain much traction on any of the platforms because they didn’t tap into my native skillset. However, it did give me a firm understanding of how you could utilise each platform for brand campaigns. It was only when Instagram launched in 2010 that my wife said that I should check out this new platform that all the cool kids in South Korea are shouting about. Being a visual storyteller, I was immediately hooked, and I loved the fact that Instagram was strictly a smartphone platform making photography very appealing and accessible to me for the first time by simply using my iPhone…
This is an excerpt from an article by Mr Whisper in issue 101 of FUJILOVE MAGAZINE (August 2024). Subscribers, you can find this article by downloading this issue from your subscriber area.
You will find the remaining part of this article in FUJILOVE MAGAZINE.
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