I have just started a new Instagram account, OmPicks, where I will share the stores of people who fascinate me. Some are friends, some are folks from different walks of life and some are just interesting. There isn’t any theme – except these B&W portraits are made by me. If you are curious, follow along on Instagram. Here is my first pick for the series: Shak!

Shakil Khan is the co-founder of Student.com, a hot new company based in London. He is Spotify’s special ambassador and a wellknown and beloved fixture in tech circles. But to his friends he is just “Shak.”

It is hard to describe this tall, British guy who starts his Sunday by sharing some amazing desi songs from Spotify’s vast library of music with me and a handful of friends of South Asian heritage. That one act sums up Shak: he is a giver.

He is always there to help his friends, make impossible happen and when we have a disagreement, he is quick to say, “Om, since you are big brother, you are right” even when I am not. Our friendship has lasted more than a decade and has weathered a few snits of mine. Shak comes from a humble background and he doesn’t forget that. His family, his roots and his pals – Daniel Ek of Spotify in specific – are the world to him. He is the perfect person to start my series of portraits of interesting people.

This portrait made in Grand Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden with Fuji xPro2 and a Fujion f2/50mm lens. We were both attending the #stockholmsymposium BrilliantMinds!