A FAIRY TALE BEGINNING FROM A POINT AND SHOOT CAMERA TO THE DOUBLE-SPREAD PAGES OF LONELY PLANET MAGAZINE - all in the spate of eight months!
I thought I would share with my readers the fact that possibly success came my way as a travel photographer with a stroke of luck. The reason I am keen to share this in my very first blog post is to let everyone know that what seems impossible is actually achievable if one has a plan (or like me is genuinely lucky). I will subsequently in my forthcoming posts share how to become a successful travel and landscape photographer; but for this one, let me just narrate how it all began for me.
“Till the last quarter of 2018, I didn't even own a decent camera, let alone ever used a DSLR.”
Till the last quarter of 2018, I didn't even own a proper camera, let alone ever used a DSLR. Yes, its true that I had an interest in photography all through my life, and usually was considered to be a good bet to make a decent image in a family gathering; but they were all with point-and-shoot Sony and Olympus cameras. I never really felt the need to explore the other possibilities of making images which were any different from anyone else's.
2018, had different plans for us as a family. We were to travel thousands of miles to be in Melbourne for a Graduation Convocation at the Etihad Stadium, and I knew that from where we would be seated, there was no way I could capture the images I wanted to immortalise. As this was going on in my mind, I was flipping through the September 2018 edition of the Lonely Planet magazine, and on page 3 my eyes were drawn to this magnificent image of the American Bald Eagle. It was an ad from Sony and they were featuring their latest upgrade to the Sony RX10, the M4. I fell for the camera instantly and searched the net for everything I could on the Sony RX10M4 - images, reviews, YouTube videos.
It was the beginning, and I didn't want to spend much. After all it was a vacation, and I was no Serge Ramelli or Tim Shields (didn't even know who they were at that point of time, but you get the point). I wanted the balancing act of an all in one camera which could do much more with just one lens and the Sony RX10M4 ticked all the boxes. First, I ordered Alexander S White's Photographer's Guide to the Sony RX10 IV, and read it completely before I ordered my camera. I think it was delivered a week before we boarded the flight. Those fourteen days via Bangkok at Melbourne were all that a trigger-happy newbie wanted. As we travelled through Victoria, more and more images got added and for me the Great Ocean Road Trip was a wonderful experience.
Once back home, I started reading more and more about everything related to photography - compositions, equipments, settings, and for the first time even installed a software for post-processing. Six months had past and I used every knowledge gained through reading in a practical manner during my travels. I never once felt that my images could get published, the thought never crossed my mind! And here I was reading Lonely Planet's latest edition in June, when I noticed this section titled JOURNAL requesting for reader's travel images. I sent three images on July 02, 2019 and followed with another one on July 05, 2019 and was pleasantly surprised to find all four published in the August 2019 edition with the entire JOURNAL (Tales from the Road) section devoted to my frames. My first submissions ever, and a 100% success rate, and that too with the LONELY PLANET magazine.
(Two of the four images that were published in LONELY PLANET are posted in this blog post above)