INTERVIEW
landscape photos National Geographic
is the best place to see some most
stunning works of photographers, and
for overall photography the DPS (Digital
Photography School) is great.
is IT essential to have an expensive camera
to take good pictures?
I believe that the weakest link is the
photographer. Though a good camera
opens up many more doors by bringing
technological advantage, it cannot make
up for the art. Buying the best typewriter
in the market does not necessarily mean
the book one writes with it will be a
masterpiece.
Your advice to amateur travel
photographers on taking good portraits
I think taking portraits is a difficult genre.
It not only takes good command on the
camera, but extremely good people skills.
To me a good portrait of a person is one
that captures their soul, their character,
their being. It is not that simple. What
one should look for is not a larger-thanlife expression, but a very subtle shine of
an expressed mystery on one’s face. It is
difficult to capture the ‘soul’ of a person.
It shines through their eyes or surfaces
for a split second on their faces and
evaporates. It takes great deal of effort to
press the shutter at the right moment.
Like catching a bird.
My suggestion is that one should talk
to the person, know him or her a bit,
let go of any pretense and airs, just truly
and sincerely be interested in them. And,
when you know that your presence doesn’t
distort their personal space, you capture
the moment.
a tense moment?
The biggest challenge is safety of gear
and protection. On my last trek to the
Himalayan range, I had hired a mule to
carry my camera bag and other baggage.
The pathways being so narrow and loose,
the mule fell down on a climb. And the
camera bag came under it and I felt a
chill in my spine. Fortunately, nothing
happened, as the fall was not too hard.
One other time, in Leh, while changing
lenses, the lens did not lock properly. As
Pic 2 - Roopkund
Pic 3 - Kanyakumari
I held the camera by the lens, the body
dropped from my shoulder’s height. I
ended up damaging the autofocus screen
on the sensor and the camera flash was
shattered. Luckily, I had a backup body
with me to continue shooting.
the most stunning place you have seen?
My favourite location so far has been
the sight of the Trishool Peak in the
moonlight. On our way to Roopkund, we
reached Bedni Bugyal in the evening. It
was very cloudy and windy at the altitude
of 11,000 ft. We were waiting for the
majestic sight of the mountain, for which
we would need to head there early in the
morning. Before we went to our tents, the
sky cleared miraculously and a full moon
shone on the majestic peak with a starry
backdrop. The temperature was about 2
degrees but I had to get my gear out to
take this shot.
Connect with Gaurav Gupta:
Facebook: IDontSayCheeseCom
E-mail: [email protected]
September-October 2015 Travel Secrets 73