-Profile- Master of Vision : Chandan D. Naik Gaonkar, LIIPC

Profile : "Master of  Vision"

Chandan D. Naik Gaonkar, LIIPC

Chandan D. Naik Gaonkar is an outstanding photographer from Panaji, Goa (India). He has expertise in visualising the surroundings around him in his own artistic way. He portrays the ordinary subjects in such an exclusive way that a viewer’s eyes stop at his images spontaneously. The main characteristic of his works is his unique vision which is evident at first sight. The words of O. G. Rejlander seem true after going through the creative pictures of Chandan, “It is the mind of the artist, and not the nature of his materials, which makes his production a work of art." This is worth mentioning that Chandan has clicked his pictures with Asus Zenfone 3 and Poco X3 mobile phone cameras, and has edited them on Snapseed app. He is a source of inspiration for those who lack expensive equipment and have profound desire to do a lot in the field of creativity.

 --Dr. Pankaj Sharma

 -Great Masters-

In friendship with Photography

Umesh Gogna

 

Born in a family of jewellers, Umesh Gogna was inclined towards arts since his childhood.  After completing his post-graduation, he started helping his father in his family business while also working on his Ph. D thesis on ancient Indian jewellery. He needed good quality photographs of jewellery for his thesis. In order to get good images for his thesis, he decided to buy a camera and try photographing the jewellery himself. He bought a second-hand Pentax camera kit, thus started his journey as a photographer.

After some disappointments, and a lot of hard work, he was able to get good images for his thesis. After a phase of time, he discovered that he had fallen in love with photography and he started spending more and more time with this form of art. He upgraded his camera kit, brought studio lights and even set up a small studio in his house. Soon people started asking him to photograph their jewellery-products and he was happy to oblige them.  As he loved travelling, he started travelling to new destinations with his camera. During these trips he got fine images of different places.

When he realized that he was devoting more time to his photography than to his family business, he decided to turn professional and devote all his time to photography. It was a difficult decision as he was essentially leaving a secure business for the uncharted waters of professional photography. But now, after so many years, he is glad that he made that choice. Photography has always been the main passion of his life and he feels especially lucky and blessed to be able to devote all his time to it.

Most of his professional work is in the field of handicraft and jewellery, stone and the hospitality industry. Apart from his professional work he also does a lot of travel and nature photography. Over the years he has spent a lot of time in documenting the cultural architectural and natural heritage of Rajasthan and the Himalayas. The wilderness and the open paces of the desert and the mountains attract and inspire him.

After spending many years as a professional photographer, he felt that he should give back something to the profession of photography. One area where he felt he could contribute was by educating aspiring photographers about the science and art of photography. He started helping young photographers by conducting workshops. He has accomplished more than 250 workshops of photography till date. For seven years (2008-2014) he conducted workshops for Canon India as a mentor. He is currently a brand ambassador and mentor of Sony Alpha. Now a days his Astro photography with photography expeditions, and his master classes are very popular.

He has spent a lot of time in documenting the cultural & architectural heritage of Rajasthan and the Himalaya. His works have been published in several books on these subjects. Rajasthan’s royalty, fairs, festivals & colours are framed in the coffee table books of Pali, Jalore & Jhalawar by him. Some of his other books are lined up to be published. Today Umesh Gogna is a well-known figure in the field of photography. He is among the jury members of renowned photography contests. Many organizations have appointed him as their mentor. A number of his photographs have featured in reputed publications. He is committed to help the beginners forever.

Achievements/Awards:

·        Founder Member and Mentor / Jury at Camarena Academy (FB)

·        Honored with the Life Time Achievement Award by Jaipur Photographer's Club

·        Honored with the Life Time Achievement Award for contributing to education in photography by Jodhana Photo Journalist Society

·        Honored by Governor of Rajasthan (Margaret Alva) for contributing to education in photography

·        Part of Jury for a number of photographer's club, colleges and schools.

·        Conducted over 250 photography workshops PAN India

·        Guest Faculty in Allahabad University (2008 to 2019), Central University of Bihar, BITS Pilani Photography Club and more

 -Dr. Pankaj Sharma

-A Tribute to the Legend- Rakesh Syal

-A Tribute to the Legend-

Rakesh Syal

Legendary photographer Rakesh Syal ji is no more. He left to the heavenly abode on 30 November, 2021. His demise is a great loss to the world of photography. He will always be remembered due to his mastery over Portrait/Still Life photography and due to his decent nature.

Here is a small feature about him : -

"Rakesh Syal, an ace lensman had inner instinct for dimensions, textures, light and expressions. Born and brought up in Ludhiana, he was among the most talented photographers of his country. An artist by instinct he picked up his camera in 1975. Deeply fascinated by the world of photography he never looked back and made a mark in the field of portraiture, still life, product, industrial, fashion, food, interiors and wedding photography. Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away …that’s what Rakesh Syal ji thought. His works are remarkable for their technical and formal mastery. Still life by Rakesh Syal is class apart. His compositions carry a signature style of his own and are from the genesis of an idea. A challenge to creativity and technical skills, Rakesh Syal’s portraits are magical. With enigmatic backdrops he created the best of formal and informal portraits inside and outside his studio. Nothing succeeds like success and for this artist success is a journey, not a destination. With over 35 years of experience to combine with his exceptional skills Rakesh ji was very passionate about his work. His immense talent made whatever he did highly recognizable and his charismatic power to turn the ordinary into extraordinary!

He had to his credit some 3500 acceptances & more than 900 prestigious awards in National & International photographic competitions. FELLOWSHIP honour by India International Photographic Council (2007), AIFACS award by All India Fine Art & Craft Society, New Delhi (1994) and the ARTIST of Federation Internationale del Art Photographique (AFIAP) Honour, Barcelona, SPAIN (1994) are some of the prestigious laurels that Mr. Syal possessed. From year 1991 to 1998, Federation of Indian Photography & India International Photographic Council, placed him at Number One Position in top ten Exhibitors. He had achieved the “Platinum Exhibitor Award” by IIPC (1998). He was a Faculty in reputed photography workshops and conferences conducted by IIPC & FIP. He had been jury member in many National & International Competitions of art photography."

--Dr. Pankaj Sharma

-On Project- Capturing Architectural Marvels of His City: Dr. Kamran Khan, AIIPC

-On Project-
 Capturing Architectural Marvels of His City
Dr. Kamran Khan, AIIPC

Dr. Kamran Khans is a passionate lensman with extraordinary vision. His photographs have been center of attraction among the photography lovers due to their unique presentation. He often aims at capturing the unexplored beauty of the surroundings around him.    

He was seven only years old when he shifted to Bareilly with his parents. Around 40 years of his stay at Bareilly have passed. He has been doing photography for more than 20 years. He enjoys photographing the historical places of his region and he has done a lot of work in this field. The ancient buildings of his city have attracted him since his student life. Few old buildings located in the city are very important in terms of their beautiful architecture. This time he is with us with a few beautiful pictures of ancient churches of Bareilly. He admits, “the Churches located in my city always fascinated me. I could not photograph them in my student life as I did not possess a camera. But later the things changed. I, after completing my studies and then after making my career in medical line wished to spend some of my time for photography. I started clicking the beauty of my city. My childhood fascination for churches inspired me to photograph them thoroughly.” He further adds, “not only the churches but religious places of every religion attract me deeply. Visiting these places always gives a feeling of being close to the positivity and to a divine power as well.”

        

According to Dr. Kamran the light of early morning and late evening is always ideal for photographing churches, since during these hours the divinity at its peak can be felt and the same can be experienced in our pictures. Secondly, our presentation should be purely unbiased and original.

--Dr. Pankaj Sharma

-Profile- Passionate for Wildlife Photography : Ashok Sikri

-Profile-

Passionate for Wildlife Photography
Ashok Sikri

Born (February, 1977) and brought up in a small town of Punjab, Ashok Sikri shifted to Rishikesh later and did his higher studies in commerce from a college there. He is a businessman by profession. In 2018 he decided to buy a DSLR camera just to click quality family pictures and capture precious moments of life. He had no clue about any technical aspects of photography as they seemed very heavy for him. Gradually he got inclined towards photography seriously and decided to join a local photography club to get a knack for photography.

He started going on weekly photo walks with his club members. One of his photo walks was at Raja Ji Tiger Reserve with his fellow photographers. It was an amazing experience and after the walk he realised how vivid the wildlife is and It's just not visually epic but also teaches a lot of lessons to nature lovers. Since then, he started his journey of capturing the wildlife. Ashok Sikri is a nature lover and is on a path to capture it. His works have been published in multiple reputed magazines like Chillz and have also been featured by Nat Geo, BBC and Nikon.

Ashok is a hard working photographer who believes in perfection. His pictures are perfect examples of wildlife photography due to their subject material, composition and dramatic effect of light.

 --Dr. Pankaj Sharma

-Profile- A Progressive Photographer : Kaushal Kumar

-Profile-

A Progressive Photographer 

Kaushal Kumar

Kaushal Kumar Arya is an enthusiastic lensman from Haldwani Uttarakhand, India. He is a self-taught photographer and has been doing photography since 2014. To pursue his passion, he left his job from HDFC Home Loans in 2015 and finally adopted photography as profession. 

He started his own photography venture, named " Pixel Monks” in 2016 which focuses all commercial photography works like weddings, events, products, ads, films etc.

Apart from commercial work, he personally loves travel and landscape photography. He has travelled the hilly regions of India massively and captured the scenic beauty and life of these areas. 

Some of the accolades in his small photography journey are:

* Winner of top shot in National Geographic Daily Dozen.

* Got featured in National Geographic photo story called " Kumaon in Frame "

* Works published in Smart Photography magazine in "Kaleidoscope" section in September, 2016 edition.

 

* Winner of Uttarkashi Unveil Photography Contest. 

Kaushal is a progressive photographer who believes in the continuity of efforts. For him any sort of break in steadiness is a big hinderance in the way of success.

--Dr. Pankaj Sharma

"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