Today we’d like to introduce you to Asmita Runge.
Asmita, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I think of myself as a weaver of a few different worlds: Yoga teacher, Ayurvedic practitioner, Photographer, and Artist. Life has pulled me in many directions, yet instead of scattering me, those paths have slowly come together. Now, all of those practices – movement, healing, observation, creativity – show up quietly in my photographs. It feels as though I’ve distilled the essence of everything I love into the way I see and capture an image.
As a teenager, I fell in love with Robert Doisneau’s black-and-white street photography. His images held feelings, passing expressions, whole stories inside a single frame. When I lived in Paris in the early nineties, I carried a film camera and tried to imitate his street style – without much success, but with a lot of curiosity. I remember standing in Monet’s gardens at Giverny, surrounded by almost unbelievable color, and realizing I had only black-and-white film in my camera. I couldn’t afford to change the roll halfway through. So I photographed that explosion of color in shades of gray. In a way, that moment taught me that photography is less about accuracy and more about essence.
Motherhood marked the next chapter. My camera became constant: birthdays, ordinary Tuesdays, messy kitchens, tired car rides, family trips. I quietly archived our lives, often realizing I’d been the one behind the camera, not in front.
Where I am now feels like the maturation of all those events. These days, I dive into photography simply for the love of it. When I’m with my camera, I’m practicing presence: noticing light, breath, small details, and fleeting moods. It’s a joyful, mindful act. My work now is an expression of everything that nourishes me – Yoga, Ayurveda, health and well-being, nature, and travel – coming together in a single click of the shutter.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely hasn’t been smooth. After walking through a landscape of challenges that reshaped me, I arrived here later than I imagined. Photography is now my Ikigai—my reason for getting up in the morning, the thread that brings joy and meaning to my life.
With menopause, everything shifted – my body, my moods, my energy, my sense of self. It wasn’t just a physical change. It was mental, emotional, and spiritual. At the same time, feeling unseen, unheard, and unvalidated in my marriage led me to dim my own light and hide parts of my true essence. Later, the empty nest brought sudden silence to a house once full. With it came a sharp question: What is my purpose now?
Searching for answers, I found myself reaching back to photography, something that had always sparked genuine joy in me. However, the real shift occurred when a photographer friend offered to photograph me. Standing on the other side of the lens was unexpectedly vulnerable – and unexpectedly healing. I saw myself in those images in a way I hadn’t in years: strong, tender, powerful, resilient, beautiful, full of life. I reconnected with the younger, artistic version of myself I had quietly abandoned.
Through that photoshoot, I began to reclaim and embody confidence, power, resilience, beauty, and joy. In that experience, something clicked: I realized that photography can be more than a creative outlet – it can be a sacred space for transformation. That’s when Soul Photography was born: an offering for others to tell their story, explore their unique essence, and be truly seen, witnessed, and honored.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am most proud of my offering, Soul Photography – Be Seen, Be Heard. This is the heart of my work: creating sacred space for rites of passage, times of transition, moments of transformation, and the embodied expression of a person’s true essence.
It feels as though everything I’ve done in my life—every interest, every career, every curiosity—has been quietly preparing me for this. As an Ayurvedic practitioner, I bring a holistic approach to women’s health. I educate and empower women to embrace the transformative potential of menopause, and honor it as far more than a physical shift. Menopause is emotional, sociocultural, and spiritual; it rearranges our inner landscape as much as our outer one.
Through Soul Photography, I bring this understanding of menopause behind the lens. I focus on this profound rite of passage, holding space for women as they step into a new chapter. During these photo shoots, I witness and honor their unfolding – their softness, their grief, their courage, their power. To capture this transformation in images feels both humbling and extraordinary. It is some of the most meaningful work I do.
As a lifelong practitioner and teacher of yoga, I am also drawn to photographing yoga itself – yoga photoshoots, retreats, and women’s gatherings. These spaces are already infused with presence, vulnerability, and connection, and my camera simply becomes another way to celebrate that. Being able to weave together my love of yoga, travel, and photography truly feels like a dream realized.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
So much of what makes my work possible comes from what I’ve lived through myself. Many of my own life experiences and transitions have guided me toward Soul Photography. I know what it feels like to be seen, heard, and witnessed in a deeply healing way – and that experience has shaped how I now show up for others.
In each session, my intention is simple but powerful: to listen without judgment, to hold a steady, compassionate space, and to honor whatever is emerging. I invite people to give language to their story and to the transformation unfolding, and to gently explore their true essence – then begin to embody it in front of the camera.
The photographs become more than images; they are reflections. Reflections of inner strength, vulnerability, tenderness, and power. My hope is that each person recognizes their true beauty—inside and out—when they see themselves through this unique lens.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Soul Photography by Asmita Runge
