In Conversation With Tarun Chawla

Tarun Chawla - An amazing photographer, an ardent traveller and a web-developer shares about his passions. As I believe, a photographer is a happy person, he sees happiness in everything that crosses his vision, let us read how this person made his life a story to inspire.

If I had to present all the awe-striking  pictures clicked by him here, I would have fallen short of space to present the interview. So, to go through his expressions of creativity, imagination and the power to frame emotions, please click Tarun Chawla Photography and to subscribe to his public updates, visit his Facebook profile Tarun Chawla.

Let's read what he has to share with us :-

1. Before we begin, tell us in a nutshell about yourself. => I am a 24 year old self taught photographer, I shoot, travel, code and shoot some more...
2. Yours is a different kind of story. An engineer, an acclaimed photographer and also a passionate traveler. How has the journey been like? => Journey has been tough, it's easy to quit your job and then pursue your dream profession, but to juggle between a job which is acceptable to your family & society with a job which u love is a huge task! Traveling came naturally to me, first it was a necessity because of photography, later it turned into a passion. I started traveling a lot, irrespective whether a wedding was taking place or not.
3. Tell us about your first memory of being inspired by photography.  => Nikaa! I love her work! http://flickr.com/nikaa she is an amazing photographer who can capture actual emotion of women.
4. What was the thought behind choosing wedding photography? => It's the only place where everyone is happy getting clicked. Else clicking emotions at any other place is not always possible.
5. Being such a gifted photographer, why don’t you want to pursue photography full time? => Photography is still not an acceptable profession in society plus the daytime job where I currently work, I love it more than anything else. It gave me an identity and purpose. It made me financially sound and it would be terrible to leave the company.
6. In the midst of numerous weddings you shoot, tell us about what's your take on love and marriage?  => Love & Marriage, woot! ok, this is a difficult question! There are 3 separate things, love, marriage and wedding and I don’t know anything about first two. :)
7. I have read the captions you put up for the pictures you post on Facebook and I really see a good writer in you, so another facet to your personality. Any favorite lines that you want to share? => There is one sher I love. {not self written}“Kaayam hai is zamane mai rishwaton ke silsile, tum bhi hamse kuch ley-dekar mohobbat karlo!”
8. You have been travelling since a really long time. Tell us about a place that you can’t get enough of. => Ladakh! Can't get enough of going there again and again every year. 
9. What would you like to advise the budding photographers?  => Please don’t take up weddings until you are sure that you can shoot at least 500 good pictures! Before getting into it professionally, practice, practice and practice. Wedding is a 'once in a lifetime' event for the couple, don’t treat it as an experience and portfolio building event.
10. What is the level of competition for photographers in India?  => There is not much competition :) competition exist at two levels, first is when you compete for getting introduced to clients. Second is with well researched clients, you reach this stage when you are experienced and a bit famous. So client knows all photographers and then it's more of a choice of style/taste rather than competition.
11. There are a lot of challenges people face while getting off the ground to attain their dreams, what was the biggest challenge you faced? => Biggest challenge was to create a new market, candid photography was not at all popular when I started it and it was a huge huge challenge to make people understand what I do.
12. What do you see yourself doing after 5 years from now? => Dead.
13. What! Why dead? => I wish I knew! :|
14. You come up with a different essence of emotions in your clicks every single time, even after shooting so many weddings, how do you deal with the monotony of sights in every other ceremony? => No idea about this. haven’t thought much. maybe its because each wedding is different, different set of food, decor, couple, new pretty girls to shoot.
15. Do you have a team of photographers for each project or you do the whole wedding yourself?  => I have a fixed set of people I take for each wedding, some are freelancers and rest are working for me. But from time to time, I do hire some extra talent locally when I am shooting in south India or some other location far from my base-town.
16. You also won the award in Kodak-Better Photography Wedding Photographer of the Year 2011 awards ceremony, how was the experience? => The experience was good, it was a trip in Malaysia where we shot non stop for 5 days till our feet and hands started to hurt. The best part was getting to meet 5 other amazing photographers and getting to share knowledge and beer.
17. Moving on from your photography to IT profession. Tell us what exactly do you do and how passionate are you about it? => In IT, earlier I used to make iPhone applications but later I switched to web based application {read: i make websites}. Currently I work as a developer with ophio, http://ophio.co.in and do everything from coding to talent acquisition. And yes! I love my job! I have always had interest in web & technology, this job gave me an identity and direction where I used to technical skills to max. 
18. What has been the best advise you have received till now? => A friend of mine, Kanika, gave me this advice when I needed it the most. “Don’t brag!” __________________________

Rapid Fire Round:

• Favorite Cuisine?
  => Bun Maska & Chai. Don’t know what cuisine they fit into!
  
  
• Favorite Hang-out place in Delhi?
  => Teastall at Sector 3, Noida
  
  
• Favorite Gadget?
  => iPhone
  
  
• Favorite Singer & Song?
  => Singer: Qazi Rizwan
  Song {not by same singer}: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGmbxs9rMqM&feature=g-user-u
• Any other hobby you wish to inculcate?
  => Gyming!
  
  
• The one who inspires you?
  
  

  => http://flickr.com/nikaa
  She is an amazing photographer!
• Had you given a day off from all your chores, what you spend it doing?
  
  

  => Yes I have, I visit ladakh for a stretch of 7~8 days, twice a year. During this time I am not available via phone, sms or any other medium.