"Photography Is All About Art and Creativity, and There Is No Limit to It." - Maharshi Patel

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1. Tell us about your background and journey?

My name is Maharshi Patel and I'm 25 years old. I was born and brought up in Mumbai, India. I am an Architect and I absolutely love designing spaces. Though, apart from that, I'm also a self-taught photographer. I completed my graduation in Architecture a few years back in 2017 and since then I have taken photography as my professional career.

My journey in photography started long back in my childhood. I used to grab my dad’s camera on every trip that we went on. Nobody would want to give an expensive camera to a 10-year-old but thankfully, my dad always encouraged me to use it and take pictures.

2. How and when did you realize your passion for photography?

Architecture is 5 years long degree course and it demands your lot of time and energy. It also requires a lot of hard work both physically and mentally. So in those 5 years I never actually got time to focus on my hobby and enjoy it. In spite of that, I used to take out some time on weekends and go out on photo walks. 

I joined Instagram in December 2013 and came across a few groups of photography enthusiasts who used to go out on photo walks twice or thrice a month. This was a good opportunity for me to test my skills and do photography

more seriously. 

I made a lot of new friends on these photo walks and with these like-minded people, it was a great way to learn a new thing! Healthy discussions regarding photography helped me to take my knowledge a step above. I learned a lot from watching videos on YouTube! It is a great space to master your skills. 

Since then, I have turned my hobby of photography into a full-time professional career.

3. What are some tips you would like to share with amateur photographers?

My tip to the young and budding photographers will be to believe in themselves and that there is nothing impossible. The goal is always achieved after climbing number of different steps. Some steps are smaller and easier to climb while some are bigger that takes some time and effort. 

I believe, "Photography is all about art and creativity, and there is no limit to it. One can never learn art completely and we all remain learners for the lifetime"

4. What are the important skills one should have to be a successful photographer?

Well, photography is a vast field. It has many areas of specialization within it. 

To thrive in the field of photography, one must possess a set of qualities and skills like - Passion for photography, Creativity, Will to travel and work at off timings, patience, concentration, technical expertise, communication skills, and lastly computer and software skills. 

Luckily, I had acquired most of the above skills in my B.arch course since it is also designed for creators and designers. One thing that was left to do was 'technical expertise', & to master this, I personally decided to learn all the genres of photography and not just one. 

I used to target one genre for a period of 1oneweek and in that, I just have to focus on the chosen style of photography. From basics to the choice of lens, use of light, composition, editing approach, suitable camera, lenses, and its technical side for each genre. 

So, week after week I mastered different genres like portraits, wildlife, architectural, landscape, documentation, product, sports, events, low light, and light paintings one by one. By the time I completed this process, my control over the camera was so commanding and easy that I could assess the scenario and set the camera settings in just a couple of seconds. 

Today, I am open to almost any sort of assignment and projects because I have invested plenty of my time to go deep into each of those genres. Lastly, Dedication and hard work is the key to success!

5. What are the various opportunities available for aspiring photographers?

As I said, photography is a vast field and there’s plenty of scope for everyone. The time has changed into a digital era. A lot of things have shifted online like media, news, shopping, travel, and tourism, etc. Photographers are required almost everywhere in business as well as personal events. 

There’s a huge demand for specialized photographers in travel and tourism product photography, fashion photography, food photography, automobile photography, etc. In the future also these demands are only going to get increased as it has now.

6. Which is your favorite book and why?

Honestly, I haven’t read many books yet and that’s something I really regret. But, I’m trying to develop and cultivate this wonderful hobby in my daily lifestyle. I hope in the next couple of years I’ll be in a far better position to answer this question. 

Though, a few of the books that I’m going to start reading is, "Rich dad, Poor dad", "How to Win Friends and Influence People", "Born to Win", "Who moved my Cheese" and "The Secret".

- Maharshi Patel

(IG: photosbymaharshi)

- Interviewed by: Anurag Jaiswal