The dynamic, crew-heavy world of visual effects is vastly different from the solitary pursuit of still photography. But both are visual media nonetheless, trying to tell a story. And it is the stories captured by the lens of filmmaker-photographer Vajranabh Natraaj Maharshi that caught Tim McGovern's eye. The 63-year-old Academy Award-winning American VFX supervisor, who attended a conversation on visual effects as part of the 49th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa recently, was in Mumbai on Wednesday to inaugurate Maharshi's photography exhibition — a feat the filmmaker is palpably proud of.

"I met Tim Sir through an acquaintance. I showed him my photos; he loved them and here he is!" says Maharshi. McGovern spent over half an hour gazing at the frames — most of them are in black and white, capturing raw emotions of their subjects — and examining the use of light and angles. This keen eye for media that portray real life has stood him in good stead in his three decade-long career in visual effects, from the time when "there was nothing that would look real" to today, when VFX has come a long way in helping a filmmaker visualise his project with imagery that's as real as it gets.