For someone who grew up in a house where there was always a camera, photography didn’t invade his senses as an unexpected hobby. Ankit Bhat shares with us his story as a storyteller on this week’s Client Corner.
Ankit Bhat was familiar with the use of cameras even before he bought one for himself. Intrigued by the new avenues that would open up for him if he were to pay attention to his new interest, he picked up a camera which was on a sale for a reasonable price.
By December 2014, his interest in photography maintained enough momentum to become his passion, and he says that he fell in love with his camera.
Ankit is a travel photographer, and on his journeys, he explores its sub-genres – people portraiture, landscape, and culture and monument photography.
“My idea of travel photography is about trying to capture the unique, native essence and details of a particular place I decide to travel to and photograph. And the continuous challenge is to do it differently than all those who have captured the same details, and that daunting confrontation is what fuels my journeys incessantly,” says the composed artist.
Travel and photography go hand-in-hand for Ankit. However, he is also that person who loves exploring a place without the company of his camera if need be – to take in everything a place has to offer to a seer and seeker of beauty. He also tells us that he sometimes travels without even an itinerary, letting the journey itself offering him unexpected turns and surprises.
When asked about his favourite places, Ankit says, “the world is too vast to have a favourite place or a few. I want to travel to newer places and not just revisit the ones I have already explored. However, I love Ladakh and Varanasi a lot.”
Ankit explored Bandipur on a Toehold Photo Tour and tried wildlife photography recently, but he says with great clarity that his passion is travel photography as the dimensions it gives an artist to explore are numerous. In the near future, he wishes to try studio portraiture where one can control light indoors.
Ankit has travelled across Europe, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, apart from travelling far and wide in India. “Things are changing fast. I want to travel more in Southeast Asia because I feel that so many aboriginal particulars are fading away into global minutiae. I want to preserve the taste of nativity as much as I can using my camera,” says the photographer with a vision.
“And there are a few places I want to visit for the spiritual joy they bring beyond all the mundane commercial colours to them,” he continues, and says that he wishes to travel to Nepal and Burma sometime soon.
When asked about what photography means to him, Ankit tells us, “Photography, to me, is about trying to showcase the beauty of this world from my perspective.” And for all his travel plans that will make him realize his idea of photography with increasing fervor, we wish Ankit the very best.
