To celebrate Valentine’s Day, Pursuit of Portraits hosted its third virtual meetup and photoshoot called “The Living Room Tour – Love Edition” on Sunday, February 14th 2021. The event that was hosted by PoP’s Founder, Saunak Shah, was joined by 12 Guest Models from over 6 countries and participants from all over the globe. During a time of pandemic when creators continue to face challenges amongst a new normal, The Living Room Tour aims to provide a platform for creative expression, connection and self-love.
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The Love Edition was a special moment…what we really wanted was to be able to provide a safe space for the cis and the gender non-conforming to channel one’s voice, queerness, inner confidence and sense of self. Love was the theme of the day, and with the Love Edition – we were able to push the narrative beyond the virtual boundaries during the pandemic.
Produced by PoP, Video by Abodid Sahoo
On Tuesday, September 8th 2020 Pursuit of Portraits hosted a “sunrise chic” themed portrait meetup at 6AM in collaboration with Empire State Building. This Invite-Only event gave access to friends of PoP onto New York’s most famous open-air observatory. There were Guest Models, Prizes for the best photos and needless to say; a sunrise to remember.
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Thanks to the team at Empire State Building for ensuring temperature checks, providing masks and this stunning venue to find help us few find that connection again.
Video by Karston Tannis (@skinnywashere)
On Saturday, June 27th 2020 Pursuit of Portraits hosted its second virtual meetup and photoshoot called "The Living Room Tour – Pride Edition". The event that unfolded over Zoom connected over 300 creators online with 14 Queer models from 10 countries.
”This was a celebration of Pride spotlighting the beauty, uniqueness, wit and flamboyance of the LBGTQI community. In a time of pandemic and social unrest, Pursuit sought creativity and diversity to inspire, educate and amplify. The Living Room Tour brought together hundreds in an experiential space where voices were heard and many got to show off their true colors”, says Saunak Shah; Founder of PoP & lead host of the virtual tour.
On Saturday, 23rd May, 2020 Pursuit of Portraits hosted “The Living Room Tour – Part 1”; our first international virtual photo meetup over Zoom in collaboration with Veu where 16 models from over 10 countries were joined by 300+ creatives from all over the world. During the time of a pandemic where so many of us found ourselves locked within the confines of our homes, the living room tour was hosted with the goal of fighting isolation and bringing creators from around the globe closer to one another.
To create buzz and provide opportunity to the network of PoP Photographers in New York, The Creative Collective partners with Pursuit of Portraits to host a sweepstake to send 4 photographers to capture CultureCon; The Creative Collective’s conference for Creatives of Color that houses over 75+ speakers including Tracee Ellis Ross, Sanaa Lathan, Regina King, KeKe Palmer and Quincy to name a few!
Over 300 photographers joined in on the contest from which PoP handpicked the top 4 photographers to attend and capture the event!
POP PHOTOGRAPHERS AT CULTURECON 2019
THE SPACE BETWEEN US – A JOURNEY TO 21 COUNTRIES OVER 5 CONTINENTS
Pursuit of Portraits partners with Parasol Projects and Printique to present “The Space between Us”; a photography exhibition by PoP’s Founder and photographer Saunak Shah from July 4th to 7th, 2019 in Nolita, New York that captures the journey through 21 countries over 5 continents on The Global Pursuit. The show saw over 500 attendees in person and reached over 5 Million followers that followed the exhibition online via stories.
A FILM MEET + PHOTO EXHIBITION TO CELEBRATE FILM PHOTOGRAPHY DAY
Lomography NYC celebrated Film Photography Day by joining forces with PoP to create Pursuit of Film, a film-only styled shootout and event which drew nearly 200+ photographers to create analog-based masterpieces on Saturday, April 8, 2017. The best photographs from the day were featured in an exclusive exhibition at the Lomography Gallery in Greenwich Village.
WATCH RECAP VIDEO (BELOW)
PURSUIT OF THE SPOKEN WORD
The team at BBDO New York partners with PoP to produce “Spoken Word x Portraits; A series on Spoken Word Artists showcased through portraiture and storytelling.” on the theme of “Diversity” to spark new ideas, extend the conversation and create impact. PoP’s Founder, Saunak Shah was invited on this project as part of a Summer Residency Program and worked closely with Damjan Pita, Digital Creative Director and Derek Harms at BBDO.
Pursuit of the Spoken Word extends the interpretation of diversity and how storytelling complimented with portraiture can add depth to the narrative. The project spotlights New York City-based spoken word artists JoeKenneth, Cyrus Aaron and Samuel Sellers who were photographed by Saunak Shah, Anisha Sisodia and Ali Reza Malik respectively.
PURSUIT OF COLOR
Holi NYC partners with the team at PoP to create "Portraits in Full Color" - A myriad extravaganza of diversity, love and color in celebration of Holi; the hindu spring festival of colors. A team of 4 PoP photographers (@saunakspace, @skinnywashere, @neivy & @aundre) visit the festival, hosted by Holi NYC on Saturday, 20th May 2017 in the Bronx, NY.
MIAMI ROOFTOP POOL-PARTY PURSUITS
W MIAMI partners with PoP on February, Saturday 24th, 2018 to co-host “Pursuit in Miami”; a rooftop pool party-themed portrait meet activation bringing over 150 together in a unique experience for hotel guests and the community at large.
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1 YEAR. 11 COUNTRIES. 20 LOCALS. 36 DIGITAL NOMADS. 56 STORIES.
Remote Year collaborates with PoP’s Founder, Saunak Shah as he travels in November 2017 with 36 companions for over a year and decides to capture their portrait in a city of their choice. The project covers 11 of the 21+ countries visited on The Global Pursuit. Fueled by the passion of storytelling and portraiture this project (PoP xRY Edition) aims to highlight facets of personal and professional growth that come with travel.
The Global Pursuit (PoP x RY Edition) debuted at LAB1 in Bogota, Colombia on Saturday, October 27th in partnership with Remote Year.
Tumblr (@nyfwofficial) sends a handful creators to New York Fashion Week to cover everything and anything they have access to. Shows, presentations, backstage events—14th season in a row. PoP’s Photographer, Saunak Shah (@saunakspace) along with Jane Kim (@jane–kim), Andris Dzeguze (@andrisdze), Matthias Brown (@traceloops), Jean Taeza (@jntza), Rose Wong (@rosewong), Alyssa Greenberg (@smallgirlbiglens), Ramon Owen (@thisreo) were there creators who covered the 14th season.
Photos by Saunak Shah for PoP x Tumblr
PoP plans two portrait photography meets in Colombia in partnership with Selina; a hostel and co-working space for travelers, nomads and explorers. The first meet that was held at Selina, Medellin on Saturday, September 16th, 2018 was facilitated by local creatives. It was significant to PoP because it featured some guest creatives from the local LGBTQ community. The second meet took place at Selina, Bogota on October 27th, 2018. Apart from a welcoming venue for both the events, Selina provided prizes for the winners of the best photos from the meets.
Saunak Shah; PoP’s Founder adds, “We like to work with brands and communities that share the same culture as us. Providing a unique experience is key but bringing together people from all backgrounds is what we are most excited about. It’s not about exclusivity, it’s about being part of something bigger. It’s not about sharing what we see everyday on popular media, it’s more about sharing stories that we don’t see so often”
PoP was invited by Ogilvy New York to host their first Agency SHOW & TELL on February 1st, 2019 to share insights, tips on social media community building and host their first internal agency portrait meet to foster a culture around community. The talk and workshop was led by Karston Tannis and Saunak Shah. The interactive portrait meet was followed by a critique and the best photos were awarded prizes!
TOPIC OF SHOW & TELL: The Pursuit of Engagement:
Today when online influence and engagement is king, how does one maintain social authenticity to build narratives and positively impact and connect with an audience that’s so easily distracted and disengaged.