Photography: How a hobby turned into passion

“I am a photographer and I capture the scenes of life so that i can flip the images to relive those moments”

The oldest memory I have are of marriages ,where, I would crave for digital cameras that people used to click pictures. I always dreamt of having one . Every scene that flashed in front of my eyes , I wished to capture it, to treasure it forever....probably it was one of the reason I started Diary Entry as early as Jan 2009. The wish was neither granted by Santa nor my parents who were too freaked out by all the new technologies.

Time elapsed, we moved from film rolls to memory cards and i was still hoping for a MIRACLE....

God had to finally shower some luck on me(except: Academics). But I had already missed the Farewell clicks of my last day in school. And it really hurts to think of this sour fate as I go down the memory lane. It all started three years back, when I got my first Camera-Phone after buttering my grandpa for months. It was Micromax A70 (whose back cover I am sill awaiting, as assured by the official Carecentre in Varanasi) *pun intended*. Specification on the box read 5 MP and I was way too happy (but reality struck me later). Anyways I had something that had a camera on it, unlike my first phone Nokia 1600. I can guarantee one thing that in the two years of its survival, its Camera had been used the most followed by Messaging and Facebook. The best part of having a camera in your phone is that you can take it to almost ‘anyplace ,anywhere, anytime’. I got busy capturing moment, scenes, people and so on.... creating memories in JPEGs. I remember the ‘JRS’ days (for those who don’t know JRS is a coaching located in the heart of Varanasi). I would hop on my friend’s Activa  and we would leave for an all electrifying experience of capturing the city filled with masti & fun, armed with my A70, bunking classes in the meanwhile, that was probably I did poorly in entrance examinations.

I didn’t knew when this hobby turned into passion which has increased  from then on

One more year passed . I went to college. The camera on my phone was wearing off. I was pretty desperate to change it but the monetary problems kept haunting me as I didn’t had the guts to ask it from my parents (Never after my performance in the engineering exams).

A change was solicited...

I can remember clearly, it was a chilly December morning. We all were gearing up for our first battle @UPTU in NBH, block-A. I had just woken up when a guy came in to tell that warden is calling me. Initially I was terrorised but was in for the surprise of my life. It was my first Digital Camera: Fujifilm Finepix AX500. All thanks to Nanaji this time. 5 MP had now changed to 14 MP. I had lots of new function and modes to play with. I started shooting straightaway, of everything I came across. I became the official birthday photographer (no I am not bragging) and it had continued to say the least. Although I was awed by AX500 but as time flew, I started noticing its limitations. No shutter speed control, no manual mode, the blurry images at slightest of the shakes, lack of crispness....that is when I decided to upgrade. It was time for a DSLR.

In the meanwhile...

I had bought Galaxy Grand (it too had 5 MP but way better) as my A70 died a sudden death plunging from my pant’s pocket into the bathtub. I can always relive the unfortunate scene. I still have A70 with me as I don’t wanna let it go. It had already helped me get the love of my life. Grand was all good but I was somewhat deterred by low light performance and the lack of details. Anyways I enjoyed carrying it around flaunting the Samsung logo and enjoying every shot I took. I engrossed myself in mobile editing thanks to tons of software available in android market. The passion was ever increasing and I could feel a sense of joy from the photos I had clicked. I liked them and so did others, not many but enough to fuel up the urge to click.

Later in the third sem...

“Karmavesh” happened...’the official council of BBDGEI’ as they say. And I somehow felt that the photographer in me is pushing it limits and had started giving competition to the writer in me. I already had a blog(anyulife.blogspot.com) that was followed by a page on Facebook for both writing and clicking and an ID on Flickr. I promised myself to share my work with everyone so that I could learn from their inputs. And now i had seniors too whom I could consult for helpful tips.

Target DSLR begun...

It started somewhere during mid October and ended on January 3rd 2014. In between I had read through reviews of almost all the mid and entry level DSLR to zero it on Canon 600d. Money collection and saving begun next (and I am really thankful to Mr. Pawan Malhan ji for his contribution to kick-start the things)*extreme pun intended*. Deep neck in loan, I got myself the Canon 600d from Reliance digital on the eve of my b’day. The best b’day gift.... isn’t it? It had been just few days till then and I am really crazy about it. Shubhendu sir had already cleared the ISO-Shutter-Aperture triangle. I now dream of clickin pictures and yep the quality of the images is indeed awesome...’breathtaking’ is the word. I just hope to exploit it to the best in order to achieve what i always desired “a picture perfect frame”.

“For me the concept of photography was never about boasting or showing off and will never be...
It had always been about capturing a moment  creating a memory and will forever be...”

I can’t help myself with the fact that I always think of treasuring the scene in front of my eyes either by writing or clicking. Luckily for me the desire to press down the shutter button has kept increasing. I always wish to create images that could bring a sense of joy or smile on the person’s face standing on the other side of the lens. This is the principle I live by

“Be the reason of someone’s smile and your life is already worth it.”