Rishabh Jain - Learning About the Magic of a View That Can Be Turned Into Photograph Which Can Be Kept Forever Is One of the Best Advancements of Humanity (Photographer from India)

I’ve come a long way from being a teenager dreaming of travelling with my camera as my partner, to an adult in his 20’s finally getting to pursue what he likes.

1. Tell us about your background, upbringing and journey.

My journey of photography starts back from when I was in middle school. Doing something creative and unique always used to run at the back of my head, whether doing it in the field of art or in photography. My family always supported me in all my interests, with my father gifting me my first camera to my mother always appreciating my art no matter how bad it is. 

I’ve come a long way from being a teenager dreaming of travelling with my camera as my partner, to an adult in his 20’s finally getting to pursue what he likes. 

But photography and art are not the only things that excites me, I also discovered that playing with numbers also is my thing of interest so I got into the most difficult and yet challenging career in the field of finance. Managing my work and studies and getting a time to do what I love the most is probably the best thing that happened to me.


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

In my teenage years, I read books about the origin of cameras and there technical developments. Learning about the magic of a view that can be turned into photograph which can be kept with us forever is I think is one of the best advancements of humanity. 

With this I started playing with my parent’s old digital and film cameras trying different ways of clicking photos. I got to understand the photography from scratch by trial and error method, which is arguably the best decision I took in my learning years. 

In my later teen years after getting my first camera, I got a little serious about my love for clicking pictures. I started looking at my surroundings in a more artistic way to always thinking about how I can edit this frame into an image. Gradually I realized that photography as an art really excites me.

3. What are some of your tips for amateur photographers?

Now a days there is a constant pressure on following trends and running in the constant race of numbers of followers and likes. The field of photography is not art centric anymore, nowadays anyone who wants to start the journey of learning this most prestigious art wants to do it quick and fast. 

There is more attention on quantity over quality. Although a sense of following trends and having a sense of numbers is important to survive in such competitive world, but treating an art just to gain followers should not be the case. 

An amateur photographer should always focus on learning the art by self-learning instead of constantly following others. One should only take inspiration from fellow photographers rather than blindly copying their work.

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

The most important skillset for a photographer is no doubt a sense of creative understanding of setting frames and tones of the photographs. Making the viewers understand your perspective of a scene is a feeling that can’t be explained. 

I believe a successful photographer is a person who have a terrific relationship with his/her camera, a person who can make his/her viewers feel that they are present at the moment that is captured in the photograph is I believe we can call as a successful photographer.

5. What are various opportunities available for aspiring photographers?

In this digital era the opportunities for young photographers have increased many folds. With these opportunities available to all, the community of young photographers is increasing every day. 

The community of mobile photographers have also increased in the past few years with mobile phone cameras getting professional with every update, it is easy for anyone to practice and polish their skills without worrying about the heavy investment in equipment first. 

Having a great cross platform community on all the social media platforms gives a sense of belonging and help aspiring photographers getting a positive criticism on their work.

6. Which is your favourite book and why?

My favourite reading is of the author W D Gann , the book that appeals to me the most is ‘A tunnel thru the air’ based on a sci-fi plot which describes the protagonist as great scientist who achieve biggest fleets in life that one can’t even imagine. 

The detailed and elaborative narration of the experiments really made me picturize the whole scene of experiments in my mind. This book really tells the power of human brain, that we can understand and picturize such things which probably can never happen in real life.

Interviewed by - Vanshika Jain