As I reflect back today, I see that my interest on people as part of my photographs is not new. It was always there since the beginning. Moving ahead, after my graduation, I started working with the Swiss food giant Nestlé. With job pressure mounting up, photography took a back seat after a spell of interesting two years with my Olympus.

In 2007 I moved to south of India and was posted in Chennai. I suddenly realized that I did not have much to do during my weekends. The suppressed interest, dormant for seven years, reignited again. I got my first basic dslr to restart again. Interest grew bigger. To top it up, I won my first National level Award in a photography contest organized by the Photographic Society of Madras in 2009. This motivated me to do it more seriously. Most of my weekends, I realized, I was with my camera in the streets of Chennai. After some days I joined the most elite photo club of India – the Photographic Society of Madras. I developed friends from the same community and gradually got involved into the club affairs. I started taking keen interest in people photography and also started participating in National & International competitions. Photography became a part of my life. From liking to love & from hobby to passion.

Several things happened since then. I moved back to my home city Kolkata in 2012. Camera and lenses changed for good. Changes in brand, changes in quality, changes in size…and eventually a small mirrorless one for my daily street photography. The biggest change I see is in me and a natural funneling down of the genre that I actually love today, which is street, documentary and travel. Another change is that I no more take photographs to win awards, but to tell a story to the viewer. But yes, at the end of the day, like every other normal person, I do like people appreciating my work and love to see my work being published in magazines and online platforms.

But at the end of the day, I understand that I have only scratched the surface of this great art. There are many things to learn each day. When I scroll through the pages of some of the finest photographers like Raghu Rai or Henri C. Breson, or Robert Capa or our own Raghubir Singh, every image teaches new things. In recent times because photography has digitalized completely, it provided opportunities to many youngsters to pursue this art; and let me tell you, many of them are simply doing a brilliant job. They are not afraid to experiment and take risks, they break rules very fast and create something extraordinary ! To me, technology is an advantage if used properly. At the same time, there should not be any compromise on the art and its purpose. We, as artists should have respect for each other and be ethical all the time. Remember, first you need to be a good human being, before you become good at any other thing !