Imran Mirza, NiSi UK Ambassador

Imran has been a professional photographer for just over a decade. His career really took off when Microsoft discovered his London images and decided to create a windows theme using them, they were the 4th most downloaded themes in the world and have been downloaded over 55 million times to date. They are still available on Microsoft’s website. Imran’s images have been featured on BBC news, one being Malham Cove and it’s rare waterfall and the Blood moon image. Imran also writes for Fstoppers.com along side his YouTube channel, where he now talks about how to start in photography and keeps his videos fresh and simple to understand. Imran shoots commercial work which range from products to food and also teaches his techniques via one to one classes. Whilst living in Dubai Imran worked for Euronews as  a cameraman, DOP, editor and director. This transitioned into a full time job and now Imran films cooking shows for various food brands in the UK. Imran’s prints are available in many forms via his website.

Imran’s Gear Bag

Filters: NiSi V7 with True colour CPL, True colour ND Vario 1-5 stops, ND8 0.9 3 stops, ND64 1.8 6 stops, ND1000 3.0 10 stops, GND 8 0.9 3 stop Medium.

Camera: 2 Canon R6 cameras

Lenses: 115-35mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8 MK3, 50mm f/ 1.8, 80mm f/1.2, 24-70mm f/2.8 MK2

Bag: Fstop and Billingham bags

Tripod: Gitzo Tripod

NiSi UK: What got you into photography?

Imran: My friend used to have a design agency and part of their work they used to take images for clients. I started to play with their camera on-site and developed a passion right there. I loved the technical challenge of the exposure triangle. I bought my first camera from Jessops and haven’t looked back since.

Talk me through your favourite shot with NiSi filters

Imran: This is to be Bow and Fiddle rock in Scotland. I was planning this trip for a while and when I finally got there everything was just perfect for me. I just stood and enjoyed the whole scene. The sound of the sea slowly coming in was calming and really made me feel welcomed. I used a 6 stop and medium grad for the shot

NiSi UK: What is your dream location to photograph?

Imran: I don’t have a dream location as such, I love shooting the Milky Way in the deserts, the mountains in Scotland, the sea cliffs in Wales, the vast fields in England, the architecture in London, there’s just so much it’s hard to choose!

Every photographer has that one day when it all went wrong – tell us about yours. 

Imran: I was planning a pre wedding shoot and we decided to go to Whitby to shoot there. The drive was a fun 2 hours and we had a great laugh on the way, but this came to a sudden stop when I switched my camera on and realised I left ALL my memory cards at home. There was no shop that had any CF cards then, and after 2 long minutes of silence we just burst out laughing! We got some fish and chips and drove back home. We rescheduled the shoot closer to home and it has become an ongoing joke.

Follow Imran on: