Neelomi Popat - The Girl in the City

It's weekend and time for the Weekly feature, and this week it's Neelomi, a young girl whose Instagram account would leave you wanting for more. I love the way she plays with light, creating shapes and forms in simple scenes which make them special.

She is also a curator of a hashtag #frominkinmyveins. If you are on Instagram, it's worth checking out the hashtag and discover some amazing photographs. 

In case you missed out last week, check out another inspiring photographer, Anuj, who I interviewed last week.

It takes two to whisper - Neelomi

So who is Neelomi Popat?

To begin with, I am Neelomi Popat, 18 and a lawyer in the making. It would be too wrong to term myself to be an artist, so let me call myself a hobbyist and yet another person who gives their dreams, some chances. 

I capture photographs and recreate memories. Also, penning down my thoughts is yet another thing. 

I am a first year law student. I was born and brought up in Mumbai and that is one place, I would forever want to associate myself with. It is more than just a city to me and that perfectly explains my title of being 'the girl in the city'. It has given a lot to me, a lot. It is more than the land that holds me, it simply has taught me one thing that there always is going to be enough of whatever you would want, and that, everything shall have a right time, you will just have to be the one to find it and not the other way round.

But don't say?

I couldn't do it, I just couldn't say it to him

Two paths never crossed each other, they weren't mean to...

Growing up in such a lovely family as mine, this city groomed me. I remember that day, I was 8 years old, a little kid who was late for school and had missed the bus. I had to cross the four lane street to make my way to the school. It didn't scare me, every other stranger looked upon me as their own daughter and helped me make it on my own. This taught me one thing, is that a little girl was capable of doing something she never thought she could have, all on her own. And, this might be such a small incident but changed the way, I looked upon things forever since. 

The people who have made me the way it couldn't have been better are my parents. You know, to have the heart to let your lil girl do things the way she wants, even if they are wrong and to have her back when she cannot hold up hers is so rare. Every parent wishes the best for his/her child but on their terms. They never made any. They taught me to be my own hero, such an extrovert, bold, confident and it may be to credit myself with too much, but that is what it is, to take no shit. They made sure, I valued everything that came up my way, might it be to earn it (and this earning doesn't count money to be it's currency). They taught me to be nice because you can be mean later, but once you've been mean, they'll never believe you to be any nicer. They taught me to respect, to care about every other individual, to love above myself and know where to stop, because people, people can be disappointing. One thing that inspires me to do anything is to see that smile full of satisfaction on their face, when i make things on my own.

A little broader smile never harmed anybody

Showcasing DW!

What does photography mean to you?
Photography, ah, it means to see things which did not exist in the first place. You know, it's such a medium to connect, to connect to yourself because now, you have the power to create things on your own and if that's not something powerful, I don't know what is. To be honest, I do plan my shots after I decide the way I would want to look at that thing. You might have seen the pictures I put up, they're mostly 'portraits' as we say. It is something that I like the most about this form of art, it let's you create a person in the frame, and not let it be just the frame. Taking pictures of people can be sometimes, the best form of memory but sometimes, it makes you run away from them so they don't hit you, jk! :P 

At the stroke of midnight...

You're being a bitch. Why do you always want me to prove myself, why can't you trust me?

So are you in love Neelomi?
My personal life, okay, I am single. I don't know what love can be like, I find love in everyday conversations, those little things when people care, or when you just pour it all out to somebody who you wouldn't even meet in your lifetime. It really does get very candid for me, and it's really hard to like a single person, haha!

What is your dream, Neelomi?
The last of all, my dream. Quoting Harvey Specter (major crushing on him, brb) I don't have dreams, I have goals. Talking about your project, I really would want to become the best god damn lawyer, this city's ever seen. I will not talk about being a traveler or an over obsessive dog lover, or one of those 'if traveling was free, you would never see me again' but one thing, I do find peace in discovering and that does not be traveling to a lot of places, but make a life I wouldn't want a vacation from. Well, making that all on my own would top the list. 

Neelomi Popat

To connect?
You can reach out to Neelomi on her on her blog.