Connections In Photography: A profile on Bish Uprety
Bish on the evolution of his personal and professional journey, creativity, and the messages of his art.
Different expressions of creativity speak to an individual’s talents and their way of thinking. Different art forms do the same thing, each a reflection of how an individual in that field sees the world. The connection that photography brings, the bridging of two worlds with the photographer and the person they’re photographing, captures a kind of existence specific to those two people.
Photography wasn’t always Bish’s (@dearbish) goal, even though that’s what he ultimately started pursuing. Film was what originally drew his eye, a practice that was encouraged by a high school film teacher, whom he loved. Photography, like film, is completely based on creativity, with being able to capture and record people, places, and scenes in a way that captures a specific vibe or evokes a certain feeling.
“The more I took pictures, the more I fell in love with it,” said Bish. “I started doing street photography, like rooftop stuff and adventures around Toronto … I got to explore Toronto a lot and meet a lot of cool people.”
This began when Bish was around 17, venturing out of his home in the suburbs of Etobicoke to wander the city taking photos, assuring his parents not to worry about what he was doing. But as his love for photography grew, so did his style and his choices on what and who to capture.
Going to Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) for photography school, many of the projects he had to work on were personal, concerned with creating a completely original project every month based on only a few broad guidelines for what the topic had to be about. Because of the personal nature of these assignments, many of them focused on whatever Bish was currently going through, with different forms of closeness depicted in some of his earliest works. Once school was completed, his style evolved again as he started doing photography more professionally than before, although he still works on many personal projects.
When professionally photographing people, Bish emphasizes the importance of choosing to make sure the photoshoot captures the story of the client, rather than the photographer. Through collaborating with artists, it’s key to remember that each individual has their own brand and aesthetic that should be reflected in their shoot, combined with whatever ideas and concepts Bish brings to the table. This creates a mesh of ideas between Bish and his client, deepening an already established connection.
“I like to get close to the people [I photograph],” he said. “If I want to get a close-up, it gives me a little more intimacy with the subject. I get to talk to them for a little bit and it becomes like our little bubble.”
Going to Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) for photography school, many of the projects he had to work on were personal, concerned with creating a completely original project every month based on only a few broad guidelines for what the topic had to be about. Because of the personal nature of these assignments, many of them focused on whatever Bish was currently going through, with different forms of closeness depicted in some of his earliest works. Once school was completed, his style evolved again as he started doing photography more professionally than before, although he still works on many personal projects.
When professionally photographing people, Bish emphasizes the importance of choosing to make sure the photoshoot captures the story of the client, rather than the photographer. Through collaborating with artists, it’s key to remember that each individual has their own brand and aesthetic that should be reflected in their shoot, combined with whatever ideas and concepts Bish brings to the table. This creates a mesh of ideas between Bish and his client, deepening an already established connection.
“I like to get close to the people [I photograph],” he said. “If I want to get a close-up, it gives me a little more intimacy with the subject. I get to talk to them for a little bit and it becomes like our little bubble.”
The importance of connection is the primary aspect that shines through in Bish’s photos, both personally and professionally. Dividing his work between professional and personal is also a way for him to keep things that are emotionally harder to process on one side, and helping artists expand their brand on the other side. This clear line between the two allows him to utilize his creativity differently. An example of this is his recent photoshoot with Capsul, an editorial themed around the personal experience of grief and the idea of loss.
During the shoot, Bish and his team created five different photo sets and outfits revolving around the five stages of grief: depression, anger, bargaining, denial, and acceptance. He argues that while it’s always good to get nice “Instagram-worthy” photos, the goal of the editorial was to effectively translate the concept of loss in a way that would make it clear that the theme of grief was the heart behind the whole photoshoot.
The ideas and concepts that he’s able to come up with don’t always arrive the minute he needs them to, rather, Bish advocates for a more natural form of creativity, stating that creativity is not something that can be forced, or that any one person needs to dedicate a specific chunk of their day to working on. When the ideas come, they come, and only after they do can you create something organic.
“I don’t think we have this idea of “Oh, we’re going to dedicate like this block of time to be quote-unquote ‘creative,’” said Bish. “It’s more like ideas fly by. And if you don’t catch them then it feels like something got missed. And then it’s up to you to catch the next one and the next one.”
Working in this field for nearly a decade now, Bish has grown enough to learn a few lessons and better understand what work comes next. Armed with the goal of working on a new editorial every quarter and still maintaining the balance of personal and professional work, he has learned that ultimately you just have to “go for it,” and start shooting or taking photos. The process of starting any creative project can seem more daunting than the project itself, but in choosing to just begin, a foundation has already been established for what you might do. A mirror for many, if not all, creative professions.
“Robert Frank had like 19 to 25,000 images for a photo book that he cut down to like 100 or 300, so it’s a quantities game at the end of the day,” he said. “You just have to go out and shoot more.”
And so Bish will shoot more. For this quarter of the year, he’s working on a small coffee table book inspired by Petra Collins, with photos shot on an iPhone 5. He’s still finalizing the topic but is drawn to depicting the idea of masculinity and what it means to him. Beyond that, he’s interested in the idea of greatness and being one of the Greats, a sentiment connected to Timothée Chalamet’s speech at this year’s SAG Awards. Because while greatness is subjective, being acknowledged for your talent feels like the ultimate reward.
![]()
“Robert Frank had like 19 to 25,000 images for a photo book that he cut down to like 100 or 300, so it’s a quantities game at the end of the day,” he said. “You just have to go out and shoot more.”
And so Bish will shoot more. For this quarter of the year, he’s working on a small coffee table book inspired by Petra Collins, with photos shot on an iPhone 5. He’s still finalizing the topic but is drawn to depicting the idea of masculinity and what it means to him. Beyond that, he’s interested in the idea of greatness and being one of the Greats, a sentiment connected to Timothée Chalamet’s speech at this year’s SAG Awards. Because while greatness is subjective, being acknowledged for your talent feels like the ultimate reward.
“I want to be at the level that a lot of these artists are, in terms of not just making good work but making culturally good work. And making it culturally impactful, and creating a moment where you have a place in art history, even if it’s a sliver of it,” said Bish.
Photography By Felipe Ramirez
Written By Azalea Young
Interested in more profiles on your favourite artists?