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Charmi Patel Peña is working with a fash-
ion designer. Not to photograph their latest
clothing line but to identify an appropriate
outfit for Patel Peña to wear while working.
“I would like to not wear pants and a top to
these weddings,” she says. She wants some-
thing “Indian enough” to help her blend in
but comfortable and functional enough to
remain agile. Indian weddings are elaborate
celebrations—wardrobe, jewelry, and decor
in more colors than Crayola could ever con-
ceive. She’s worked a wedding in an Indian
full-length skirt known as a lehenga. Gor-
geous, yes, she says, “but not something to
run a marathon in, which [is what] Indian
weddings are: a marathon.”BORN FOR THIS NICHE
Raised in New Jersey, Patel Peña is the
daughter of Indian immigrant doctors. She
resides in Princeton, New Jersey. She forged
a niche photography business that makes
use of her image-making skills as well as her
cultural understanding and her personality,
which she describes as “extroverted extro-
vert.” That last piece is essential for multi-
ceremony weddings that last three or more
days and involve two vast families—villag-
es, really. Even in America, an Indian family
may count 80 cousins and kin-like friends,
she notes.
“People management is part of the anato-
my of getting 21 people and the doorman of
the Ritz-Carlton to cooperate for a single pho-
tograph,” Patel Peña says. “The fact that I’m
energized being around people helps me do
three- to four-day weddings. I am not drained
emotionally or mentally by being around
so many people, and I tend to be tuned in to
people’s emotions.” As she needed to be for
a recent bride wearing a 13-pound veil on
a hot day. “I was trying to make sure that
the current her is not unhappy so that the
future her wouldn’t be even more unhappy
with photographs of the current her who
wasn’t happy.”
Patel Peña graduated from Rutgers Univer-
sity with a double major in information tech-
nology and economics. “None of the jobs re-lated to my two degrees appealed to me at
all,” she explains. Her husband, tired of her
complaints about being bored at home, in-
spired her to pursue photography as a hob-
by with his wedding gift, Bryan Peterson’s
book “Understanding Exposure.”
Patel Peña started her professional career
with baby photography. Photographing twins
led to a wedding assignment. Her images of
that wedding were published on The Knot
website, and suddenly she had a growing
wedding photography business.
Indian people soon discovered her and now
account for all of her wedding photography
clientele. Having grown up on a street where
Indian families accounted for half the occu-
pants, she represents the best of both worlds
for these clients. Her documentary-style
images illustrate a penchant for modern light-
ing and composition, while her cultural her-
itage affords an understanding of how to
honor the traditions of Indian nuptials.
“Indian wedding photography historically
was a little more traditional, posed, and very
involved,” she says. “Indian couples were
happy to find someone who saw it through a
romantic and emotional lens.” Her upbringing
armed her with an understanding of the sig-
nificant rituals, symbols, and details of these
weddings. “Forty things are going on at the
same time, and you have to know what to look
for,” she says of documenting Indian wed-
ding celebrations.SIMPLIFYING THE PRICING
Her cultural understanding shapes her busi-
ness approach to this niche market, as well.
When she began her business, she was ap-
plying her standard hourly rate for eight
hours and doubling it for overtime. Indian
wedding days typically run from 6 a.m. to 2
p.m., with a four-hour afternoon break, and
then resume at 6 p.m. with a celebration that
lasts into the night. So charging an overtime
rate for work she was doing during the break
(backing up, previewing, and culling images)
as well as additional photography before the
reception didn’t sit well with clients. They
had trouble grasping such a fee structure forP eople management is part of the anatomy of getting 21 people