Photography has been an inheritted interest for me. My dad was always enthusiastic about taking family photos. He initially had a film camera, which, sadly, he never let me touch. The restriction of 35 shots per film was a little too much for him to let me play with it. Once he upgraded to a Nikon digital camera, I had a gala time. During trips with family, I was the one who would be holding the camera all the time, clicking photos of nautre, wildlife and everything around us. Here is a link to my first album way back in 2010. Facebook Album link. My interest in photography faded away when I moved to Patiala.
Fast forward to December 07, 2015, may end semester exams were close. I vivdly remember the night. It was a cold foggy winter night at Patiala. I think it was the lack of interest in preparing for the exam that made me take out my phone and took a photo from my hostel room’s balcony.
I simply snapped an instagram filter on top of it and posted it. This reignited the interest in photography for me, which eventually turned into a passion. At this time I was also introduced to filters and photo editign in general. Using lightroom mobile or snapseed to edit the photos I had taken. Clicking and editing photos gave a sense of satisfaction to me.
Everything started with my smartphone camera. Between 2016 and early 2018 I used to click so many photos on my smartphone that my phone memory was getting full too fast. During this time, I also went through some cources on photography to understand the basics of photography, exposure, composition, etc. It was also the time in which had a proper introduction to the DSLR. It was truely facinating and expensive. I couldn’t gather the courage to bug such an expensive device, until February 2018.
In February 2018, me and my friends planned a trip to Goa. Probably not the best time of the year but the Goa carnival was around the time and so we thought, “Cool! This will be a good experience.” I had been to Goa once, but had never seen the Goa Carnival. Plus going with friend would be entirely different expereince. For the first time, I rented a Canon 1300D, the cheapest available option, for the trip. The camera arrived 1 night before and I just had a couple of hours to handson, before I would be clicking photos from the tirp. It was my first time with a DSLR, honestly. Goa was a 4 days trip. I made every penny spent on the rental worth it. Took countless photos and had a great time with the camera. I wasn’t long after that I purchased my first DSLR, Canon 1300D.
There was no stopping me after that. The camera has accompanied me on all my trip and events, ever since. I didn’t just use it for leisure, but also for covering weddings and events. It also helped me learn, grow and evolve as a photographer, enabling me to learn the intricacy of photography and the DSLR. I also, stepped into the word of photo editing with Lightroom desktop which I use to the current day. Many have mixed feelings about photo editing, but I feel it’s an important part of photography itself.
Finally towards the end of 2019, I felt a need to upgrade. I felt that the camera was holding me back to take better photos. After a lot of delebration I went for the Canon 90D. That was a mind blowing moment for me. Spending 6 figures on a camera. I was nuts. But I haven’t looked back. 90D just helped me unleash a new phase of photography for me.
Covid-19 has put a pause on my photography but the fire still burns in me. Thinking about photography I just realized that key to understanding our future is in our past. If I had the wits to understand my photography passion in 2010, I would have been much ahead in my learning curve. But it’s never too late to pursue passion.
For more photos you can checkout the instagram page @travelwithphotolot.
That’s been my photography story and I would love to read yours as well.
Rohit Saluja 
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