G. Anand made it up the ladder the hard way and every time he relives his journey from being a diploma student of Mechanical Engineering to being a professional photographer, he realises how much photography has become part of him. “Everybody is a photographer these days. The profession has lost its value,” says the 24-year-old. He pauses for a moment and then adds, “But for me, it is an integral part of who I am. I connect everything to my lens — when I’m on the street, I think of the people I meet and how to frame them in a picture. I want to travel and learn about other cultures. There are bigger things to see and to be humbled by. But even if that weren’t so, I am happy when I’m behind the camera…”
It all began much before Anand even owned a camera. Now a photographer who runs Apple Blossom’s Photography, he began clicking pictures with a camera phone. Anand left school after class X to pursue a diploma in Mechanical Engineering. After that, he worked in the back-office of a reputed company but realised that a regular job wasn’t his cup of tea. When his friends appreciated the photos he took on his phone, he decided he would try his hand at photography instead. “I didn’t know anything when I began. I started interning with videographers and they wouldn’t teach me anything, let alone allow me to shoot. One of them did let me shoot with his camera but never used my pictures,” he laughs. “At that point, I couldn’t afford a camera. I always took candid pictures, even before I knew what it was called.”
Unsure of how to proceed, Anand began posting his pictures on his Facebook profile and made new friends through his hobby. “I would say Facebook changed my life. I was working on some video editing software at that time and kept learning things on my own. This way, I learnt to edit photos. When I put up those pictures on my profile, a friend gave me his camera. It was a birthday gift and he wasn’t using it. He asked me to keep it till he asked for it. That’s how my life in photography really began,” says Anand. In 2010, he started a page and began posting pictures. “I would walk 20 km a day and click pictures of whatever I saw. I love street photography because of the scope and variety it offers,” he says. When more people began seeing his pictures, a friend offered to sponsor a camera and Apple Blossom’s was born in 2011. “Someone I had met at a wildlife camp loved my pictures so much that she called me to shoot her wedding. That was my first. Another friend also became interested and then it took off from there,” he adds. “Not many people understand wedding photography. They go about shooting from the same old angles. When I took candid shots, the couple loved it. Standard wedding photography barely focuses on the couple, except those where they’re made to pose. People spend on the festivities but think twice about spending on a photographer.” Anand now does wildlife, street, travel and wedding photography. “When candid photography boomed in 2011, my calendar was booked with weddings. And sure enough, the situation at home improved too. My parents were very worried when I took up photography. But when I look through the lens I see so much more. I want to go to every little village around this city and document their traditions. I have a lot of plans,” says Anand. While Anand’s livelihood stems from his wedding photography, he is spontaneous with his travel plans. “If I decide to travel, I just leave in my car immediately,” he says. “People ask me to teach them techniques but I don’t know any theory. What I do is purely instinctive. I hate flash photography and shoot only in natural light. I never think about anything other than what’s in front of me. Photography has allowed me to observe life. And I have done everything possible to get there.”
Visit Anand’s page at >Apple Blossom's Photography
