In our popular series "In the Spotlight" , we bring you another inspiring interview with Mr. Prasad NP, who popularly known as 'Desi Traveler' in Travel Blogging community. Without saying much, let's hear about him in his own words...
1. About you: Tell us about yourself
I have lived all over India, and I think myself as a 100 % desi .. I am your regular guy who went to college, took up a job, rose in position, worked all over India and traveled for work and business to US, UK, etc.
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2. Your Photography/Travel experience: Tell us since when you've been taking pictures or started exploring places. When did you start taking photography/Travel seriously?
I think I have liked taking pics since I was a kid and loved handling my uncle's Yashica Camera. My first serious camera was a Nikon film way back in 97, when I spent all my money on this camera on my trip to USA. I must have clicked 20 + rolls during that trip to the USA, some of the images I still remember like clicking helicopters hovering over skyscrapers in Chicago and the Niagra Falls for which I specially bought a waterproof camera.
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3. What are your key areas of photography - travel/street/landscape/
wildlife/wedding/portraits/commercial? What makes you click? What have been your biggest achievements so far? What camera/lenses do you use and why?
I am yet to discover my true calling so i click almost all genres of photography ..but what I truly enjoy is travel, street, and food photography. In travel, I love clicking places I visit in the night as it brings the magic of the place like nothing you can never get in the day.
4. What is so special about your city/country and its life/culture? Has photography changed your outlook/vision about your surroundings?
India is a land of a billion smiles and you are never far from friends you have never met. I have never felt welcome even in the remotest of places and always found that people like to connect and share their stories. I think photography has a very important role to play not just as an art form but also for documenting our surroundings specially as a travel photographer it makes perfect sense to capture the damage caused by indiscriminate tourism and rally like-minded people to raise their voice for collective corrective action both by travelers and authorities to reverse the damage we have caused.
5. What are your sources of inspirations? Do you have some favorite photographers/Bloggers? How do you keep yourself motivated? How do you approach people for their pictures?
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My source of inspiration is life around us. No matter where you go you will find interesting people, rituals, festivals around you. I love to capture all the colors of life around us. Among Indian photographers, I admire > Raghubir Singh, Raghu Rai, Prashant Godbole, Arun Bhat, internationally I like Josef Koudelka, Steve McCurry, Ed Kashi, Sebastião Salgado, Art Wolfe, Noriko Hayashi, Thomas Leuthard, Eric Kim etc. just to name a few. As far as approaching people for photographs is concerned, I am yet to overcome my fear of photographing strangers, but there are times when you just can't move without clicking a person, in those situations I just muster courage, and bring on my widest, though nervous smile and just walk to the person and say " you have wonderful face/ eyes/ jacket / wrinkles/ .... whatever caught my attention and request for a picture " rarely people say no.
6. What piece of advice do you wish to give to aspiring/budding photographers/bloggers, fans, and readers of the post?
6. What piece of advice do you wish to give to aspiring/budding photographers/bloggers, fans, and readers of the post?
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Well I am nobody to give Gyan to others. I can share the process I follow... and it is very simple " Rome was not built in a day, if you believe in what you are doing keep on doing it, success, money, and fame ( followers in today's influencer infested world ) are all a byproduct of consistently producing good work.
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Do check-out more about Desi Traveler on following links -
http://desitraveler.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TheDesiTraveler
https://www.instagram.com/desitraveler/
https://twitter.com/desitraveler
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If you liked this post and found it helpful, I would request you to follow these things when traveling -
- Manage your waste well and don’t litter
- Use dustbins. Tell us if you went to a place and found it hard to locate a dustbin.
- Avoid bottle waters in hills. Usually you get clean water in hills and water bottles create lot of mess in our ecosystem.
- Say big no to plastic and avoid those unhealthy snacks packed in plastic bags. Rather buy fruits.
- Don't play loud blaring music in forests of jungle camps. You are a guest in that ecosystem and disturbing the locals (humans and animals) is not polite
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