Travel Secrets September - October 2015 | Page 70

Gaurav Gupta A PASSION FOR PICTURES From simple lover of luscious images to successful professional photographer, Gaurav Gupta has come a long way. An avid traveller, he says capturing stories in a frame is totally addictive. Gaurav also runs a wedding photography venture called I Don’t Say Cheese. Tell us about your journey as a travel photographer Gaurav Gupta "I taught myself through blogs, videos, magazines. Being an engineer, the technical part was simple; my interest in people & music made the art side of photography easy" 70  Travel Secrets September-October 2015 I always admired the breathtaking photos in National Geographic magazine, but had no particular interest in photography and did not own a camera. I bought my first camera (a decent bridge camera) before leaving for a trek near Manali. A friend who was a photography hobbyist himself accompanied me on this trek. Interacting with him on that five-day trek, I gathered that there was so much more to the art of photography than I had thought. It was like love at first sight. I clicked a tonne of pictures on that trip. Upon return, I started learning more about the technical and art part of shooting and post-processing. I educated myself through blogs, videos, photography magazines, and flickr posts. Being an engineer, the technical part was easy to understand; being interested in people, music and other forms of arts made it not-so-difficult to learn the art side of photography. I worked for over four years post my MBA. During this time, I sold a few of my travel photos to an online travel website. As my work got better, my need to upgrade my gear grew stronger. I had to find a way to make this hobby self-sustainable (it is an expensive one, no doubt). I started taking up small assignments, beginning with photographing kids and later, as visual storyteller on weddings. People loved my work and I started getting more assignments. I put up my website and that marked me as a serious photographer. Having worked with a newspaper, shot a dozen weddings, a nd personal travelling assignments, I reached a point where I felt that I could very well make a career as a freelance photographer. In the year 2013, I took the plunge and have been working as a freelance photographer specialising in candid wedding photography. With photography, I discovered the nomad in me. I found that travelling to faraway places gave me much more peace of mind and sense of satisfaction than anything else in the world. The feeling of being able to capture a story in a frame is like having opium. I have been grabbing every opportunity to travel. I’ve been to Leh, the Himalayan ranges of Garhwal, The Andamans, Maldives, Kerala, and many other parts of the country. Every picture that I take is a part of me. So, the journey has just begun. inSIDE your camera bag I use Nikon system. I have five cameras: • two Nikon D750s • a Nikon D3S • Nikon F100 • Nikon D90 (my first dSLR ) My lenses: • Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR-II • Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 n