Aditya Birla Group and a lifetime of memories - IIM Kashipur

Q. How I overcame challenges to achieve my ambitions in life so far?

I don’t know the exact time but it was during my first year of graduation, 2014, that I first held a DSLR camera in my hand. Clicking with point and shoot cameras have been there since ages but then using a DSLR camera was different. There were so many controls, balancing the ISO, aperture, shutter speed and everything else was a task. As I continued clicking pictures, I started loving it. Seeing my love for photography, one of my brother’s friend gave me his camera to use and I had it with me for like forever. He didn’t say a word. Later on, he said, I was happy seeing my little brother happy. It took a lot of time, exactly 2 years to convince my parents to get me my own camera but then I guess they too felt my love for photography and got me a professional DSLR camera. On the way to the shop, buying the camera, returning back home, I didn’t do anything but smile. Now that I had my own camera, I used to escape from my home and go for photography, be it Street, Wildlife or Abstract Photography. My parents used to get furious whenever I returned. It was somewhere in June 2017 that I got my first professional opportunity. It was a Tribal Calendar photoshoot. I was among the other three photographers, and they were renowned photographers of the state. Every morning of the shoot, before leaving home my mother scolded me a lot. It felt bad to listen to those harsh words but then I couldn’t leave that one thing that I loved. The shoot was over in a month and by the next three months, the calendars were out. All the members of the team received the copies, and so did I. It was my mother and father whom I first showed the pictures. Out of 12 months, pictures of 7 months were selected from my gallery. My parents were awestruck. My mother had tears in her eyes. She came to me, hugged me and said that she felt sorry for scolding me and that she was proud of me. No matter who came to our house, my mother used to show them the calendar, and especially show them the pictures that I clicked. Post that, my parents never said no to my photography. I’ve been into several other calendar, portfolio, band photoshoots and have won a few awards too. I’d like to say that the only challenge that one can have is convincing their parents to let them pursue their ambitions, and once they are convinced, with your hard work, you can win anything and everything.