Suraj Dande

As part of a small, multidisciplinary creative team at WhatWorks, I was involved in every stage of the content and advertising production process. The collaborative nature of the company allowed me to gain hands-on experience across ideation, pre-production, production, and post-production, contributing wherever needed to bring projects to life.

While I worked across multiple functions, my primary specialization was as a Director of Photography (DOP) and Camera Operator, leading visual storytelling and executing shoots for commercial and branded content. My responsibilities included brainstorming and developing creative concepts for advertising campaigns, planning visual approaches, operating camera systems on set, lighting scenes, and collaborating closely with the team during production.

Beyond production, I was actively involved in post-production workflows, including video editing, color grading, and content finishing. This role provided comprehensive exposure to the end-to-end creative process and served as my first professional experience in the advertising and content production industry.

Following my experience at WhatWorks, I focused on developing my expertise in cinematography and camera operation across a diverse range of productions, including television, branded content, digital campaigns, and narrative projects.

I worked as a Camera Operator and Director of Photography on reality television formats, digital video commercials (DVCs), branded films, and stop-motion animation projects, collaborating with directors, agencies, production companies, and creative teams to execute strong visual storytelling.

In addition to leading photography on independent productions, I served as a Second Unit DOP and Camera Operator on multiple scripted series, contributing to principal and supplementary photography, coverage, action sequences, inserts, and supporting visual continuity across productions.

My work has involved camera operation, lighting design, shot composition, visual development, technical planning, and collaboration with directors and production departments to deliver high-quality cinematic imagery across a variety of formats and budgets.