Suprotim Nandi - If You Never Fail You Will Never Know That You Are Made For Greater Things (Social Media Influencer and Photographer)

With each passing day, I realise that if I didn't drop out maybe I wouldn't have become 1 percent of what I am today.

1. Tell us about your background and journey.

I come from a very lower-middle-class Bengali family and I am a single child. After completing my schooling from The Assemble of God Church most of my friends were travelling abroad or outside the city to study but like I said I come from a very lower-middle-class family, my parents couldn't afford to send me anywhere hence I enrolled into a college under the University of Calcutta and started to peruse B.com. 

I had an old camera back then that my uncle gave me cuz he was buying a new one. That was my first camera, it was Nikon D3200. I used to click pictures from 2011 when I was just a rookie who did not even understand how simple things work in a DSLR work like adjusting the aperture or the shutter speed. 

My uncle being a photographer by profession never really explained to me the technicalities of a camera. He only handed it to me in the year 2011 and said click whatever you feel like, I was in class 11 back then. I used to click anything and everything with it, in the auto mode obviously and still my pictures would turn dull. 

So I started to explore my camera a bit and me being just a class 11 student and with my boards coming ahead it wasn't so easy to go out and click pictures and most importantly convincing your parents to go out. After I passed out of school and started to pursue B.com I'd give tuitions to students where I'd teach them English and maths. 

Being a college student I was capable enough to make my own pocket money. Now during my college days, I'd always carry my camera in my college bag even if I didn't carry any books. My camera was always there with me and I got a lot of freedom to go out as I was teaching, doing college and clicking pictures.

Whatever money I would earn by giving tuitions I used to spend it all in exploring the city and nearby places. I gave tuitions for 3 years so that I could support my passion which is photography. In the year 2016 which was my final year of college and it was my result day which is still one of the most important days of my life as it changed my life completely. 

I flunked in economics which was one of my honours paper and I didn't know how I'd face my parents. As I write this all the memories are still fresh. Coming from a lower-middle-class family and never flunking in school and the first two years of college it came as a shock to me. I was very scared but I had to tell my parents. 

I am very close to my parents and I couldn't just lie to them even when it was my final year so I finally had some courage and spilled the beans. My mom was a little upset but my dad was very normal and cheerful. Upon hearing my results what he came and told me is still one of the best advices I ever got in my life. 

He told me failures are the most important lessons of your life if you never fail you will never know that you are made for greater things. He told me you are a grown-up man now, don't worry about petty things like your result, just do what your heart says and do it with all your passion. 

I still couldn't understand how was my dad so cool even after hearing his son has flunked his final year of college. That motivated me a lot and the next year I only followed my dad's advice that do what your heart says always. I had dropped out of college then. I kept clicking pictures, whatever money I saved from giving tuitions I spent it on travelling to places and clicking pictures. 

The next year one of my pictures got published on The Telegraph and trust me I was on cloud 9. That was my first ever publication, just after that I won my first cash prize for a photograph and after that things just started falling into place and I kept growing higher. 

Today I have worked with many national and international brands, I have been published on multiple magazines and featured on a lot of global Instagram channels. I am also the youngest TAGe (Talking across generations) speaker of India in association with UNESCO. 

With each passing day, I realise that if I didn't drop out maybe I wouldn't have become 1 percent of what I am today. You will find more details regarding my achievements in my bio.


2. How and when did you realise your passion for photography?

Photographs have always fascinated me, other than the photographs what fascinated me more was the art behind it. As a teen I had been exposed to the works of Robert Capa, Henri- Cartier Bresson, Steve Mccurry, Raghu Rai, Kulwant Roy and many more. 

2011 was my rookie year, I personally think I realised it long back but as a teen, I was just scared to produce my point of view to my parents. Indians being Indians always want their children's to excel in studies and it was no different for me. 

But if you ask me formally I would say 2015 - 2016 were the years when I realised that I could tell stories via pictures. I realised I was passionate enough towards what I am doing. I realised my vision was different than what a normal person sees.


3. What are some tips that you would like to share with an amateur photographer?

First and the most important tip is that keep clicking and never give up. Stay original and don't copy anyone, try to be unique in your own way. Being different from others helps you when you are inclined towards a creative line. Make mistakes while you keep clicking, we only learn from our mistakes and failures. 

Another thing that I want to add here is follow really good photographers because the more we see, the more we learn. That's just how human psychology works, visual representation and interpretation helps a Photographer grow immensely. These are some important things I followed personally and the rest will fall into place. 

And lastly don't think about the gadget, trust me a gadget is just a device that helps us capture. The human eye is the best camera so don't worry if you don't own a camera. Almost everyone owns a smartphone today so go and click with your phone if you want to learn.


4. What are the important skills one should have to be a successful photographer?

Let me start this by quoting the famous magnum photographer and Padma Shree Raghu Rai.

"Skills are never taught, they are acquired'".

You can't teach someone to be skilful, in order to be skilful you have to practice a lot. We have heard the saying a lot that practice makes one perfect and it's very true. The more you practice the better you will be, be it anything in life. I still believe that I am learning every day, one can never stop learning. There is always more and more to learning. 

Other than that one should have a focus on their vision and the way they see things. As explained above this only comes when you see pictures of great photographers and analyse them. Like I said the more you see, the more you will learn. 

Also click not with your mind but with your heart, when you click a picture and it gives you enough happiness you will know that you have clicked a good picture. There is one thing I always say to the youngsters I meet that click to express and not to impress.


5. What are various opportunities available for aspiring photographers?

Well to be very honest today the opportunities are way more than what it was 10 years back. Having said that I also want to include that with more opportunities today the level of competition is also way more than what it used to be earlier. INSTAGRAM being the no 1 platform to showcase your talent today you get seen by people all across the world. 

Other than Instagram one can always work for the independent press if you want to be a documentary photographer. There are a lot of competitions that take place nowadays in small as well as bigger scale. With the increase in number of organization's today, the number of exhibtees has also increased. 

Earlier to get published in a magazine or exhibition you really had to work hard and create a portfolio of your work first. Today also it is tough but there is more scope for what you do. With young minds coming in and startups getting exposure the opportunities are way too many and social media, of course, has done its part when it comes to more and more exposure. 

So earlier it was tougher with no social media and with the analogue camera where you had to keep a count of every shutter you used to press. In the modern era, everything has digitalised from the camera one uses to their personal portfolio or reaching out to people thus increasing opportunities for people.


6. What is your favourite book and why?

My favourite book is a motivational book by none other than the very learned and internet sensation Gaur Gopal Das. The book is called life's amazing secret's. This book has everything an individual needs to know about life and it will change your life after you have read it. 

It will motivate you so much towards what you do and what you are going to do in the future. I recommend everyone to read this particular book and without spoiling anything for the readers I just want to quote one line from this particular book that has impacted me a lot.

“Watch your thoughts, they turn into words."


- Suprotim Nandi (Social Media Influencer and Photographer)

Suprotim Nandi is a passionate street and travel photographer who has been published on multiple Instagram channels and magazines because of his interesting work on the streets of India. His feed is a mixed bag of "emotions" that revolves around various themes of photography with "Calcutta" being the backbone. 

Featuring as one of the shortlists of the esteemed Nikon Photo Contest, 2019 and HIPA 2020, Suprotim is also the youngest youth speaker who has represented Calcutta at Talking Across Generations(TAGe) in association with UNESCO at the age of 23 in New Delhi. He has also been curated as top 20 photographers of India by none other than celebrity and fashion photographer Dabboo Ratnani. 

His works are present in the coffee table book solely curated by Dabboo Ratnani himself. He has been published in several newspapers and magazines such as The Times of India, The Telegraph, The Hindu, Nava Bharat, Asian Age Magazine, Deccan Chronicles, Indian Photo Arts, Lonelyplanet India, Tripoto community, Creative image Magazine, Kolkata International Photography Festival and many more. 

Suprotim has worked with several brands such as Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi India, HP India, JBL infinity Harman, Sony music India, One plus India, Johnie Walker, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Sigma India, Joby Inc, Manfrotto, Profoto to name a few. 

In his little 25-year-old career he has also had the privilege to be aside Padmashree Chef Sanjeev Kapoor as well as Team India Cricket Captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly. Instagram being his forte, he has a feed that you cant get over once you come across. He is mostly known as @shutter_bong to his fans and followers.


Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shutter_bong/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suprotimn
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO3Gcwk-FSYC2spcSghP7UA


Interviewed By Akshaya Rathinavadivel