Sometimes, you just don't know where you're headed. You just go with the flow, see what's coming, take it with both hands, and move on. When I joined college for a B.Tech course for Civil Engineering, my only thoughts were, "I hope I can enjoy this ride, make some friends, and spend my time peacefully." Never, at that moment, would have I thought how much I will actually go on to do just that and more!
When I was a kid, we sometimes used to have family dinners, with my cousins and their families getting together for some sort of party. It would be for anything - for one of my cousin's birthdays, their parents' birthdays, maybe their anniversaries - and every time they asked someone to get their photos clicked, I would just spring up and take their phone to click those photos. I was always proud of how they came out, but forget about it the next day. At that time, I was probably just not invested enough into photography. That changed when I joined college and started going on so many trips that I haven't gone to my whole life prior to it. Me and my mates would go everywhere possible - whether we were short on money or not. I guess we just wanted to enjoy ourselves! That's when we went to one trip which changed a lot for me and my perspective on things. It wasn't definitely our best trip, but we went to Coorg - a hill station in Karnataka. As I just took out my OnePlus 3 and started clicking photos here and there - my friends started telling me that I click good photos - maybe I have got a knack of finding good spots, or just have an eye for them! At that point, I didn't believe what they said - I thought they might be making fun of me! This continued with more of my friends asking me to start a photography page. I gave in, thinking, "What's wrong with trying this? Maybe I'll just give up in 3 months or so, but let's give it a shot!" And then I started my photography page!
I wasn't very consistent with it. I used to think that I can only get photos when I travel somewhere, not while walking from home to college or vice versa. I completely stopped taking photos in 2019, due to the pressure of getting that all-elusive placement. But - I started again after coming back to my hometown of Delhi, when the lockdown hit the whole world. I started with taking photos of so many books I read, and I think I got the reward for it too - alot of people liked my ideas and photographs! That gave me the confidence and as soon as things opened, I started doing street photography! And now fast forward to the present - here we are. I have my own site, I have started writing my own blogs, I feel more confident taking photos - and overall just enjoying the process!
I can't be thankful enough to my friends who pushed me into doing this, those who still support me, the new friends in real life and online I made along the way, and the countless experiences - be it success or a failure - to help me come to this point in my life where I have a dream, something to look forward to!
I am Nikhil Srivastava, an aspiring photographer from Delhi, India. I hope you'll support me on my journey. I can't wait to share more experiences, more photos and more moments!
