Sunny Khalsa is a photographer, artist, and horse trainer, most recently based in California.
She was born to hippie parents, who were part of the American Sikh movement. As a youth she spent all her time with horses, riding in rodeos and training wild horses in the high deserts of Northern New Mexico.
Khalsa spent her teens in Northern India in a boarding school, where in addition to her academic studies she was taught Kundalini yoga, meditation and Gatka, a south Asian sword fighting martial art.
Upon returning to the U.S. Khalsa became disillusioned with organized religion. She bought a ticket on a Greyhound bus to New York City where she was quickly discovered by a modeling agency. Working as a model, she found her passion for photography, inundating photographers with technical questions about cameras and lighting.
Khalsa's unusual upbringing has given her insight and perspective when photographing people and stories around the world.
She is especially gifted at capturing the subtle essence of her subjects' moods and personalities in distinct, unforgettable images. Her rapport with people from all walks of life and extensive travel background is reflective in the artful and innovative portraits she has created over the last ten years from Mumbai to Manhattan.
Her photography has been published in National Geographic, Wired, and GQ, among others, and exhibited in fine art galleries. Her entire life has been devoted to fine art.
She studied at the national Academy of Art and the Art Students League.
Khalsa has created a striking body of fine art and commercial photography, all marked by a carefully calibrated sense of magical realism and a discerning human eye.
