When Arun Hegden speaks about photography, he speaks less about lenses and light meters and more about the silence of unguarded moments, the way emotions slip through people’s faces when they forget the camera exists. His journey into photography did not begin with an expensive camera or years of artistic training. It began with the simplest act of seeing.
Born in the small Kerala town of Ettumanoor and schooled in Kottayam, Arun trained in aerospace engineering and went on to work in a corporate job between 2011 and 2018. But parallel to spreadsheets and office hours, a quieter, more artistic story was unfolding. Just before he finished engineering, Arun bought a phone with a good camera and started clicking whatever was around him. He recalls, “I enjoyed the process of creating something unique, even if it was just hostel corridors or college friends.”
By 2012, he had invested in a DSLR. At first, it was just curiosity, the same curiosity that once made him sketch in school notebooks. But photography grew from a pastime into a parallel calling and eventually, his main pursuit. In 2018, he made the leap, leaving behind the safety and stability of his corporate job to step into the uncertain sphere, an unconventional career path – photography.
Choosing Emotion Over Perfection
Arun’s philosophy as a photographer rests on a simple but profound belief: emotion outweighs technical perfection. “You can create a good picture with perfect lighting and pose,” he says, “but if you want to create a great picture, there has to be an unguarded moment. The imperfections are what make it beautiful.”
He admits he prefers humans in his frames whenever possible. Landscapes and architecture may have their grandeur and symmetries, but for him, photography becomes alive when it carries a trace of humanity ,expressions, gestures, small emotional truths. That, he feels, is what creates resonance.
It is also why he publishes very little of what he shoots. From over a million images, less than 0.1% make it to his social media. For Arun, photographs that are technically perfect but emotionally empty remain “failed photographs.” A sharp image but without any connection or feel, he insists, is still hollow.
The Rough Road of Transition
Walking away from engineering into photography wasn’t a smooth crossing. Like every middle-class Indian family, Arun’s family too considered government jobs as the gold standards. Convincing his parents was difficult, as was convincing himself on days when work was irregular and money uncertain.
In a structured office, there are supervisors, deadlines and colleagues to lean on. In freelancing, Arun had none of that. “You have to figure everything out on your own. There’s no boss to tell you what to do. And when there are long idle periods, creative blocks come in.”
Photography, he learned, was only about 10-20% of the actual work. The rest was marketing, networking, socializing and constant skill upgrades. In the early years, he sustained himself on a few pre-booked projects and the hope that things would grow. Eventually, they did, though not without months of silences, struggles and challenges.
The Arun Hegden Motto: Photography as Process, Not Pressure
For many photographers, weddings are the bread-and-butter of survival. At one point, Arun was shooting 80 weddings a year, until the burnout set in. Today, he has cut it down to 30-35 days annually. Arun reminds us that while weddings bring in money, after a while, you lose the joy. “I want to enjoy the process, not feel drained by it.”
Having been in the creative field for almost a decade now, Arun has cultivated the approach of process over pressure. He doesn’t carry his camera everywhere, nor does he feel compelled to photograph constantly. If a scene feels worth capturing, he shoots. If not, he simply watches with his own eyes. “Not every moment needs to be photographed,” he says. “Sometimes it’s enough to experience it.”
Navigating a Digital, AI-Driven World
In today’s landscape where AI can generate images at the click of a button, Arun remains grounded. He does use AI tools to speed up editing, bringing down his workflow from an hour to just ten minutes, but he resists the idea of AI-generated photographs. Authenticity is the real art and for Arun, the process of creating is an authentic act in itself.
His love for film photography further reveals this attachment to authenticity. With two film cameras in hand, he relishes the slower pace, the delayed gratification of waiting weeks or months before seeing developed negatives. In today’s age of digital archives, it is these moments that bring us back to the materiality and tangibility of our lives.
On Trends, Travel and Impermanence
Travel and photography, for Arun, evolved hand in hand. In 2012 he bought a bike, in 2013 he visited Ladakh. A photograph from that trip was exhibited widely, convincing him that stepping out of comfort zones was essential. Over time, though, his relationship with travel changed. While earlier he might have traveled to click, but now he travels to experience. Even if he doesn’t find anything worth shooting, he’s happy just being present. Travel and photography have shaped each other and him quite equally.
In a time where every trip, concert, or meal gets documented for social media, he remains cautious of over-documentation. We’re aware of the multitude of content present online, which is, as Arun points out, overwhelming. Our attention spans are shrinking. Arun comments, “I don’t want to create because others are creating. I share when it feels authentic, not as part of a daily race.”
Advice to Young Photographers
When asked what guidance he would give beginners, Arun Hegden keeps it practical:
- Practice daily: Shoot for 30 days straight to master your camera. Technical confidence frees you to focus on emotion.
- Find mentors: Attend workshops, learn from others’ visions and don’t be afraid to ask for guidance.
- Create for yourself: Don’t chase validation. If you enjoy the process, the work will sustain itself.
- Act on inspiration quickly: Don’t let it fade into procrastination.
- Balance art and life: Pay your bills, upgrade your tools, but never lose sight of why you started.
Looking Ahead
Today, Arun Hegden is experimenting with videography, something he has been practicing for the last two to three years. Having once dabbled in short films, he hopes to return to filmmaking in the future. “Someday, I’d love to make films again,” he says, with the quiet certainty of someone who knows that creative journeys are not straight lines but spirals.
For Arun, success has never been a fixed point, never a fixed definition. “There’s no single destination called success. It’s always ups and downs.” Truly, the real success is in not giving up, in continuing to create even when nobody is watching.
And perhaps that is what makes his story remarkable. In a world obsessed with perfection and speed, Arun Hegden reminds us of the value of imperfection, patience and the simple joy of creating , whether for the world or just for oneself.
Arun Hegden is an Indian photographer who left his profession as an Aerospace Engineer. During his college days, Arun started experimenting with his phone camera and loved creating something ‘authentic’ and ‘unique’. Today he does landscape photography, portraits, weddings, cultural events, and more.
