My Photography Journey!

My Photography Journey!

Today is World Photography Day. The date behind World Photo Day originates from the invention of the Daguerreotype, a photographic processes developed by Joseph Nicèphore Nièpce and Louis Daguerre in 1837.

Photography is an invention that has revolutionized the way we see the world. We can visit places without leaving our home. We can share adventures with friends in another city and we can watch grandchildren grow up thousands of kilometers away.

This is the 1st time I am writing of my Photography Journey but no day would have been apt than today as it’s the World Photography Day!

My Photography Journey!

For me, The Journey of Photography began not out of choice but out of boredom. I moved to California from India in 2011 and was totally clueless like majority of h4 wives. Had loads of time on hand and nothing to do. There was no option to work due to visa constraints and was totally frustrated as i felt that my MBA degree was going to be wasted.

My husband Ritesh gifted me a camera and I didn’t even open it for 6 months. It was a Canon t1i with the kit lens 18mm-55mm and zoom lens 70mm-250mm. I was scared of the big words like ISO, Shutter speed, Aperture, Auto, Manual, Compositions, Lightroom, lenses, etc. They all sounded like hebrew to me. And frankly speaking learning new things was not my attitude at that time. I laugh out loud when i think of those days and feel..was it really me? Today I learn something new everyday…It can be via internet or day to day experiences

Till then Ritesh used the camera to click my pics and obviously in auto mode 🙂 I used to be so amazed with the pics, quality, colors and then i decided that i need to learn this gadget. So after 6 months of this most treasured gift, i opened the manual and started reading it.

Once I started reading it, I was determined to practice what I read. So my subjects were anything and everything in the house..lamps, plants, paintings, flowers, etc. I started reading more about it online. Saw youtube videos. Asked my photographer friends. Learned about editing.

Photographing Everything & Anything. Visit Here for individual pics

all

The next step was to click people. My 1st model was my friend Urja’s daughter..Khushi. She was i think 3 years old then. I used to click all her actions. Then I realized I have to learn motion photography for which i decided to click in manual mode where i could have full control of my camera.

Photographing Khushi

My Photography Journey!

It was an ongoing learning process. Camera and Lenses were same but my subjects were changing as I wanted to try all kinds of photography. We used to travel a lot so i started carrying my camera wherever we went. And here emerged the desire to learn street photography and landscapes. Learned to shoot in daylight, overcast skies, capturing stories of unknown people and the learning process became so much more exciting.

Photographing Landscapes. Visit Here for individual pics

My Photography Journey!

Photographing Street  Photography. Visit Here for individual pics

My Photography Journey!

Now the about Food Photography. When i came here i didn’t knew even C of Cooking. I remember burning rice:P Ritesh used to cook dal chawal for me as i was clueless about using pressure cooker. After getting bored of Ritesh’s cooking..lol and to feed my inner foodie, i decided to learn cooking. I started calling mom for day to day recipes and then my friends and Ritesh were the guinea pigs for my experiments. After some practice i was able to make a decent meal for everyone. After basics i wanted to learn fancy dishes so i started following tarla dalal and sanjeev kapoor.com. Now everyone was praising my dishes and asking me recipes. The idea of food blogging clicked and this is one of the best thing happened to me.

Photographing Food. Visit Here for individual pics

My Photography Journey!

I ventured into food photography and blogging. Followed famous food bloggers, food photographers, learned from online videos,etc. After basics of food photography i wanted to learn advanced lighting, strobes, etc. And at that time my friend Chandrika gifted me a Canon 100mm lens which is my best lens for food photography.  Today cravecookclick.com is one of my priced possessions

I never imagined that I would end up clicking for restaurant menus, food products or for food photography events.

Photographing Restaurants, Venues & food events. Visit Here for individual pics

My Photography Journey!

I was fascinated towards wedding photography too. So I assisted Wedding Documentary Photographer Vijay Rakhra and learned some lessons of wedding photography. I captured wedding for some of my friends and clients

Photographing Weddings. Visit Here for individual pics

My Photography Journey!

There came a point where I thought that I need to get into this professionally. I started my Facebook Photography Page. People were asking me if i would take their pics professionally. So i ventured into events, family portraits, maternity, new born, jewelry photography. All of it I learned online. Finally I developed anitamokashi.com to display my portfolio and then there was no looking back.

Photographing Events

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Photographing Pre Maternity Shoots. Visit Here for individual pics

maternity

Photographing Families. Visit Here for individual pics

family portaits

Photographing Kids & Moms

Mothers Day Collage FInal

Photographing Babies. Visit Here for individual pics

babies

Photographing Jewellery. Visit Here for individual pics

jeweler

I started running marathons last year and discovered a different angle of photography..capturing Sports 🙂 It was phenomenal to capture the excitement, pain, efforts and happiness of crossing a  finish line of a marathon. I volunteered to take pics Team Asha with whom I trained last year.

Photographing Marathons

marathons

Today i want to learn anything and everything about photography. Recently i captured a milky way and it was totally an unique experience. So was the experience of capturing fireworks!

Photographing Milky way

My Photography Journey!

Photographing Fireworks

My Photography Journey!

I think there is nothing in this world which you cannot learn on your own. You may need some guidance but you should always take the 1st step on your own. Once you take the 1st step then experts are ready to help you because they know that you are serious about what you are doing. Patience is another important quality. Nothing comes easy and if it comes easy then it’s not special 🙂 Take your camera everywhere. Click tons of pics. Analyze them. Ask for feedback Don’t  worry about what others say. It’s your passion and only you can nurture it. Today i have a full time day job as a Business Analyst but still I make sure that my camera is fed regularly 🙂 I take up assignments on weekends and keep the fire burning.

I started Crave Cook Click Group & Clicks Group on Facebook so that i can share whatever knowledge i have and help members to follow their passion. I still have to learn a lot about photography and I am doing my bit everyday. 

Photography has changed my life for good. I see life in everything around and want to capture it in my lens. I find happiness in capturing the precious moments of my and others lives which i want to treasure forever.  Knowingly or unknowingly i owe this art to Ritesh. He encouraged me to go for any assignment which came towards me even when i had doubts. He told me that I am passionate about it so whatever i take up i will complete it gracefully!

P.S  About my gear: I own a Canon 6D, Canon 24mm-70mm f2.8 L (Telephoto-Good for Travel, Landscapes), Canon 70mm-200mm f4 L (Zoom-Good for portraits, wildlife), Canon 100mm f2.8 (Prime & Macro-Good for Food & Clicking babies), Sigma 50mm Art 1.4 F (Prime-Good for Food & Portaits)

And if you want to gift me anything my next wish list includes Canon 85mm f1.2 L 🙂

Last but not the least..Wishing you all A HAPPY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY DAY!