THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

The masters of the craft share their insights and photographs

- Sweta Baruah

How did you venture into photography? Tell us your story.

Since childhood, I have loved to draw mountains, streams, waterfalls, etc. but it was only after my graduation that I realised that it is called landscape. Later, my wife gifted me a point and shoot Nikon P500 to start with. Gradually, I realised the limitations of a point and shoot and then moved to a D-SLR in the year 2015. All this while, I had been shooting only landscapes and waterfalls around Mumbai. With my D-SLR, my first tour was driving to Spiti Valley. This was when I took photography more seriously and was fortunate enough to travel to Europe, US as well as many parts of India. I learnt a lot from fellow photographers too whose images have been published in Smart Photography. Some of them are Prasad Malgaokar, Pulak Nath, Sushil Chikane, etc. Slowly and gradually, I started to conduct workshops and mentored many new comers into the Landscape photography genre.

What does photography mean to you? Is there a message you want to share through your photographs?

To me, photography means everything. It makes me feel like I have captured and conquered something that cannot be repeated in nature and it makes me feel fresh. To me, an image needs to be simple but should be able to portray the magic of the environment, as if you are actually present at the location. When I capture an image, I try to showcase something that our naked eyes cannot see. Eg: The silk effect of a waterfall, the movement of clouds, the trail of the star, etc.

How important, would you say, is location? What was the most recent place you visited for your shoot?