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