Two months back, I got a call from an unknown number. The country code showed Germany. I picked up, and the first question was straightforward. How much would a portfolio shoot cost? The number was German, but the voice was clearly Indian, so I quoted my usual local rate. He agreed almost instantly.
I told him to send an advance so we could talk details later. Before I could even finish the sentence, the money had already come through. That itself felt a bit unusual to me. Clients usually take a day or two to think it over, ask a dozen questions, then finally transfer the advance. This was different.
A week later, we got on a video call. His name was Amit Basuri. That is when the real story came out.
The Twist Nobody Sees Coming
Amit lives in Germany and works as an actor and model there. He had an upcoming audition and needed a proper portfolio, something that could go to a casting agency as well as be forwarded to modelling agencies. Naturally, I asked him how he found me.
His answer genuinely surprised me. He said he first tried searching for photographers in Germany. He typed something into ChatGPT along the lines of local portfolio photographers for modelling and acting. He got a decent list back, but most of them were either too expensive or too specialised. Some only did fashion, some only did acting headshots, and some only did creative work. Nobody seemed to combine modelling, acting, and creative photography under one roof, at least not from what he could see on their websites.
On top of that, he also had a family trip to Jamshedpur coming up around the same time. ChatGPT then suggested something he had not even considered. Since he was already travelling to India, why not get the portfolio done there instead? He would get far more creative range than what German photographers were offering; it would fit his budget comfortably, and he could combine it with the India trip he already had planned.
So he asked ChatGPT directly for the best portfolio photographers in India for upcoming models and actors. It gave him five names. Mine was one of them. He went through everyone's work, compared the portfolios, and picked me. Travelling from Jamshedpur to Kolkata was also far easier than going to Delhi or Mumbai, which made the decision simpler for him.
Listening to all this on the video call, I will admit there was a small pang of regret. If only I had quoted a slightly higher budget. 😂
A Client Who Notices Everything
After that call, we got into the finer details. I suggested a few outfit ideas. He mentioned that readymade clothes never fit him quite right, so he planned to get everything custom-tailored back in Jamshedpur before flying to Kolkata. That sounded reasonable, so we moved on.
The day he landed in Kolkata, his flight touched down early in the morning, and he came straight to my office. We spent close to three hours in that first meeting. It didn't take long to realise how particular this man was. He would circle back to the same small detail again and again until he was one hundred percent certain it was right.
After the meeting, I told him to go home, rest, and just send me photos or hop on a video call whenever he went shopping for the shoot. What followed was honestly amusing in hindsight. Even after I had sent him plenty of reference images, tiny things would trigger long discussions. There was an entire conversation just about whether a watch dial should be purple or bottle green. I lost count of how many messages went back and forth over shirts and trousers alone. Eventually the shopping got done, the suit came back from the tailor, and even the shoes and sunglasses went through their own round of scrutiny. That kind of preparation is something I have also seen in other actor portfolio sessions, although every actor brings a very different personality and requirement to the camera.
Shoot Day
The portfolio date finally arrived. I fixed the studio, the time, and also planned an outdoor segment alongside it. My reasoning was simple. In Germany, a purely indoor portfolio might not carry the same weight everywhere, and since he was building this for multiple purposes at once - casting, modelling agencies, and general auditions - I wanted the outdoor variety to strengthen the overall set. I have handled other portfolio shoots differently too, depending on what the person needed from the final images.
For makeup, we had Nanda Majumdar, a well-known name in Kolkata's fashion makeup circle. Amit was thrilled looking at the shots as they came in. We even took him to a local poolside location for part of the shoot, and that turned out to be one of his favourites. Every frame we showed him on the monitor got a genuine reaction, not the polite kind clients often give out of courtesy.
He cleared the full payment right there, packed up, and flew to Bangalore that evening before heading back to Germany.
The Result
Ten days later, I sent him the edited images. His reaction was somewhere between disbelief and excitement. He said he could barely recognise himself in some of the frames. I was genuinely happy too, because client satisfaction like that does not come around often. I also suggested he build his own website to showcase these images properly rather than relying only on agency submissions, since that tends to give far better long-term results. He has already started working on that.
In total, fourteen images have been delivered so far. I am now putting together a proper case study around this shoot, and this article is really the first part of that.
Why This Story Matters to Me
Twenty-four-plus years behind the camera, and I have never had a client find me quite like this before. Not through a referral, not through a Google search, not through Instagram. ChatGPT recommended my name directly when someone asked for the best model and acting portfolio photographers in India. A man living in Germany, travelling through Jamshedpur, trusted that single AI suggestion enough to fly to Kolkata and get his portfolio done.
It made me realise something. Being discoverable is no longer just about ranking on Google or having a polished portfolio website. It is increasingly about how AI tools understand and recommend your work when someone asks. This story is proof that it already works, at least in my case, and I wanted to document it honestly rather than just mention it in passing.
For me, the whole experience was a reminder of why I enjoy working on portfolio photography in the first place. Bringing together modelling, acting, and creative direction in a single shoot is something I genuinely enjoy, and Amit's portfolio allowed me to put all of that together.