FO2 Stage | Ayran Mewara

I actually wasn't fond of cameras and photography when I was young. I felt very conscious in front of the camera whenever someone tried to take a picture. But when I was in our hostel, in 10th grade, I slowly started exploring photography and taking pictures of very basic and random things. I started taking photography seriously when I first went to Pushkar for a trip with my friends, and that is also where I first discovered my love for travelling. I took some pictures on this trip that got so much attention and recognition that Rajasthan Tourism at the time, featured those pictures. 

Well, time passed and I got more serious about my work around photography. I am also a 2nd year pharmacy student & going to pursue pharmacy till I graduate, but the love for travel and photography comes to me from my heart. I am not the one to compromise with this ever. Fortunately, my parents have always been very supportive and understanding towards my choice in career and hobbies. They know that I am not going to let one thing affect the other and so, they let me be free and do whatever I like. This gives me immense hope and keeps me going. 

I started travelling a lot and one of my early professional projects was sponsored to me by a hostel in Uttarakhand. It was a stay for a week and I marketed their hostel through my photographs. After Pushkar, I went to Uttarakhand all by myself, and that was an adventurous experience of solo travelling. After that, I just fell in love with travelling and exploring places. 

After a while, I covered most places with mountains and my love for them plays a big role in my journey. I went to Kedarkantha and then travelled around its edges. Some photographs from these trips got a lot of recognition and were featured on pages like Tripoto and Thrillophilia.

I don't have a lot of bad experiences as such, but I am a very forgetful person and that keeps adding to my adventure. I have forgotten my camera gear at various places many times and that has been extremely stressful. This one time, when I was travelling north, I lost my Gopro on a local bus and the camera was in the bus for two days till I contacted the bus driver and got it back. That was one of the craziest things to ever happen to me, and now I laugh when I tell these stories, but at the time, I was drowning in stress.

Although, when I am travelling, I don't tend to use my camera a lot. I only use it when I find an interesting frame. I truly enjoy being in the moment when I'm travelling. That is one of the best things about travelling and exploring and being able to capture these moments while doing what you love.

- Aryan mewara