"Profile" A Surgeon in Love with Photography: Dr. Kapil Agrawal

 -Profile-
A Surgeon in Love with Photography
Dr. Kapil Agrawal

Dr. Kapil Agrawal is an ophthalmic surgeon by choice and a traveler and photographer by passion. He did his MBBS and MS in ophthalmology from KGMC Lucknow and has been practicing in Bareilly for the last 27 years.

His photography journey is like an adventure. He fell in love with this passion when he was 11 years old. In 1978, his aunt, who lived in the USA, gifted him a Yashica 35 camera along with a few colour rolls. It was a fully manual camera and at that time, he didn’t know the ABCD of photography. He had no idea about the technique, exposures, compositions and ISO. The first book he read on photography was ‘How to Take Good Pictures’ from Kodak. It provided him with the knowledge about the various camera settings, compositions and use of natural light for enhancements. He started to apply that knowledge to his shoots. With his first camera, he could not get very experimental, as processing colour films in those times was very difficult and highly expensive. He used to send his rolls to the USA for processing. He would get to see his photographs only after 3-4 months of clicking them and in the meanwhile, he would lose track of the various camera settings that he used while taking those photographs.

After a few years of using Yashica 35, he moved on to Olympus 50. He bought his first digital Sony camera in 2004 and then bought his Canon DSLR in 2013. His photographs have been recognized at different levels. He was the winner of ‘All India Medical College Photo Competition’ twice and several other of his photos were featured in various travel websites.

Travelling and exploring new places is Dr. Kapil’s other passion and photography complements it perfectly. He loves travel and landscape photography. Himalayas fascinate him to no end and provide him the opportunity to enjoy their serenity and photograph them in a hundred ways. Ladakh is his favorite, because of its extraordinary landscapes. He has travelled to more than 30 countries worldwide and explored their eternal beauty, history and culture. Italy, particularly, charmed him enormously due to its rich heritage buildings. It gave him an immense pleasure to shoot its historic sites.

Dr. Kapil states, “I am an amateur photographer and due to my professional responsibilities, I have never been able to take any class on photography or attend any workshops. I have always tried to document things in my own way and educate myself through books and practical knowledge. In today’s modern times, I try to keep myself updated through internet lectures. Though I’m aware that this is not enough. Nevertheless, I also understand that beautiful pictures turn up from one’s true passion and steadfast commitment to bring something special and unique through a shot.”

(Text Courtesy: Dr. Kapil Agrawal)

 --Dr. Pankaj Sharma