FO2 STAGE | Sachin Ghai

I had an interest in photography for as long as I can remember. I had a habit of getting clicked in a picture wherever I went to keep them as memoirs. Being born and brought up in a small town in Punjab, there was nobody around who looked at photography like I did but it didn’t stop me from pursuing my passion.

After completing my education, I searched for jobs but unfortunately couldn't find any because of the recession, so I started preparing for the Government exams.

In 2016, I got a government job, and sometime later, I bought my first camera. Before that, I only had a phone to click pictures, and for a long time, my parents didn't approve of me doing photography as they always saw it as something that wasted time. But their opinions changed in one specific instance. On 31st December 2019, I got an email from RealMe that my picture had won a contest. Naturally, I was thrilled and shared this news with my parents. From then on, they didn't stop me much from doing photography, nor did they see it as an activity with no potential. Still, after that won, they were convinced that I was doing good in photography and started supporting my passion wholeheartedly.

Before winning the contest by Realme, I used to use an Honor phone just to get featured and get a platform where many people could see my images. So when I got my picture featured on their Twitter account, I felt very fulfilled. This was during the beginning of my photography journey. As the years passed, I got featured on many national and international photography pages, and every time I got a feature, it made me want to click more and more.

One feature that truly changed the game for me was a picture I clicked of a child with a puppy. It was featured in one of the biggest international street photography pages and later it was reposted to many famous pages. Soon, people started recognizing me as the photographer who clicked that picture. It made me extremely happy and all these struggles were worth it.

After buying my camera, I went on my first trip to Hrishikesh, which was terrific. I clicked many pictures and also attempted to shoot a YouTube video. After returning, when I sat down to edit the video, I realized that I had taken every video in portrait mode, which was not a good idea. If I had taken them in the landscape, they could have been much better, and that is how I learned more & more about photography by making mistakes and learning from them.

Last month I was on a photo walk in Delhi, clicking pictures. I saw a chai wala across the street, and the light was so good that I couldn't resist clicking those pictures. While I was connecting, a friend of mine also joined and started clicking pictures. Suddenly the chai wale bhaiya got angry and shouted, "Kya hai meri photo kyon kheech rahe ho?" Just listening to him made me run away from there. After the photo walk, we talked about this instance and laughed so much. It became the highlight of that photo walk.

In the last few years, I have traveled a lot, made many friends, and had countless unforgettable experiences, and all this became possible because of photography. I always wanted to travel and explore, but photography enabled me or pushed me to fulfill this desire. I have started photography with all my heart and passion, and whenever life gets complicated I just say one thing to myself, "Why did you start it if you want to leave it now?" and that's what keeps me going.

- Sachin Ghai

Follow Sachin's work on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesolorover?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=