gautam was so much a creature of the moment it was one of the things we had in common one of his biggest most ambitious dreams was to set up a faculty of photography something he was supposed to start on september 16 his 61st birthday at symbiosis pune and it was so appropriate because over the years gautam has mentored so many young photographers he was so excited and his bags were packed for pune a few days ago he complained of restlessness and was recommended to get an ecg an order he promptly decided to put off till his return from pune a night bird he was chatting away with his staff into the wee hours of tuesday the next morning they found him stone cold on the floor next to his bed i remember when he was at the lintas photography department he would take pictures of the models who came for campaigns after the official shoot was over i pushed him into both photography and writing and when he asked who would publish his pictures i told him i would so many photographers came after gautam yet his approach was unique he instinctively understood that a portrait photographers job was to make everyone look wonderful their best and he would wait to capture that moment anyone who was photographed by him felt they couldnt ever look better ive always maintained that the difference between a good picture and a great picture is in understanding light gautam understood both light and people he understood reticence and vanity he waited till his subjects were relaxed comfortable and trusted him and be it a nervous aspiring model or a superstar he treated every single person who came to his studio exactly alike with the same amount of respect and attention id say his greatest quality as a photographer was that he truly believed his subjects were more important than he himself its a mistake a lot of celebrity photographers make by placing themselves ahead of those they photograph gautam lived his life on so many fascinating planes his love for opera is well known but not many were aware that he had a trained voice and was mustering up the courage to cut a hindustani classical music album he was also a gourmet cook and people would flock to his home for shepherds pie and smoked fish with anchovies apart from maharashtrian saraswat cuisine he was perfectly bilingual and extremely wellinformed be it marathi literature or greek tragedy he knew it all loyal and loving gautam was special for the quality of friendship the delicacy of his interactions his intuitive ability to respond to peoples joys and anxitieties he will live on in our hearts but also in his many immortal imagesas far as i knowhe shot only two weddings mine and kajols im not a wedding photographer he would state dismissively gautam would disarm everybody