I am a travel bug. New places & people interest me. It was this hobby that exposed me to the art of taking photos. Amateurish, initially but now a full blown profession. From travel I got drawn into Fashion - It is interesting & glamorous so I chose to continue in this genre.
However, Conceptual photography, amongst all, is the closest to my heart. In India, it is still underrated. It was during my engineering days when I was introduced to it for the first time. I had clicked some pictures on domestic violence for a competition & started connecting myself with everyday experiences of life, which drove me into conceptual photography.
As most parents in India, my parents wanted me to complete my degree first which made me pursue engineering. During my first year in the college, I got a second hand Nikon camera as a gift. I started clicking pictures on it & realized that Engineering was not my cup of tea as it was always 80% photography & 20% engineering. So, I decided to drop out and convinced my family that I was meant to be a photographer. I enrolled myself for a professional degree in photography as I believe that technical knowledge is very important.
My sister has always been my greatest support. She was there whenever I needed someone to shoot. In spite of living abroad, she always managed to take out time for shoots whenever I insisted.
Social media has been the biggest supportive platform. However, it also puts a great deal of pressure on you as your followers start building certain expectations from your work. They look up to you; which also motivates you a lot & makes you produce better content as an artist. Being on social media & having a large number of followers is all cool but to be an actual photographer - you need to learn the skills, you need to work commercially on the field. Being a professional is much more important than just being a social media star. It will give you fame for sure, but you will gain actual respect in the industry only by being a professional.
For me, photography is more of story-telling. Every picture I click, I want people to hold on to it & think about it. I want people to understand that there is something much more than just an aesthetic frame. Every photo has an emotion, drama & a complete story by itself.
I have curated a few workshops on conceptual photography. The best part of such workshops is that you meet a lot of like minded people with whom you can discuss ideas, opinions & experiences. It is Thrilling!
I believe that it is important to keep learning. There is no perfection. We can only vie to get close to it. Wishing all my fellow photographers the very best in getting as close as they can.
-Â Udbhav Nayak
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Blog by- Harshita Sharma
