Aarohan Tiwari has shown us once again that pursuing your dreams is the best thing you can do for yourself. You have to trust your gut and work towards your goals. Things were not easy for Aarohan when he decided to change his entire career path. But his perseverance paid off over the years of hard labour.

Today, 24-year-old Aarohan Tiwari is well on his path to success. Over the years, he has worked with various well-known brands like SanDisk, Oneplus, Canon. Daniel Wellington, BMW, etc. Not only that, but he has also worked with Hotstar and Uber!

How It All Started

Aarohan Tiwari studied in Bal Bharati Public school, Pitampura. After which, he completed his graduation degree in Computer Science in 2018. But he decided to change his profession to a freelance photographer and content creator.  

His love for photography began at a young age – when Aarohan Tiwari was only ten years old! It was on a trip to Nainital he recounts the tale. He had taken a landscape shot of the Naini Lake. The picture turned out to be very beautiful, almost like it was trying to tell a story of its own. The image impressed his father. He encouraged Aarohan to take up photography as a hobby. But Aarohan just never got into it. And as school life took over the next couple of years, his focus shifted to other things.

It was in his first year of college when Aarohan Tiwari rediscovered his love for photography. He borrowed his uncle’s 1200D camera and clicked again. And soon, it became his travel buddy! Through his college years, Aarohan began learning the art of capturing raw emotions and stories. And his work got more professional with each shot he took. 

Motivations, Inspirations and Thoughts

In 2018, Aarohan shot the rehearsal parade for Republic Day. And during this shoot, he took a picture of a Navy captain. Somehow, the photo ended up going viral; the captain himself saw it. Within days Aarohan had a message on Instagram from the Navy Captain himself, thanking him for clicking such a beautiful picture.

The streets of Chandni Chowk, Delhi, tell another story when he clicked a portrait photograph. Extremely pleased with the photo, the man shared it everywhere. Soon Aarohan’s followers increased; people from the locality started recognizing him. They showed him immense appreciation and love.

These are the perks of being a photographer, he says, reminiscing these simple yet meaningful moments.

His aim with his photography is to share stories through his shots. Mystical, yet serene, his photographs are ambient.

Even though Aarohan does work as a freelance photographer, he admits that it doesn’t feel like work at all. Photography comes to him naturally – almost like a stress releaser. But that in no way means that every one of his shots is perfect. Aarohan Tiwari believes that the more you go out and work, the more mistakes you’ll make. And hence, you’ll learn more. That’s just the process; it’s inevitable. So better to accept and focus on improving yourself. Because at the end of the day, talent can only take you so far. After that, it’s your hard work and determination that will help you reach your goals.

Words of Advice

Remember, your vision is unique. Let your creativity flow into your work. Start observing the things around you. Absorb it – the stories, the emotions, everything.

If you want to pursue a career in photography, a good portfolio is essential. Start building it. Explore as much as you can. And always remember, ‘The more you shoot, the more you learn.’

Artistic creativity is not always contained within a single genre. Sometimes, it is conveyed through multiple channels, blending mediums and platforms and, yet, following the same thematic idea. The creative mind stays the same. It’s just the means, through which that creativity is expressed, that changes. Vimal Chandran, a visual artist originally hailing from Kerala, falls categorically under this description. A talented illustrator and photographer, Chandran specializes in Visual Art in a manner that unifies his creative vision through diversified mediums. While that may sound contradictory, it is, in fact, one of the principles that Chandran follows in his work. ‘A bigger perspective on art’ is what drives him. It is an interesting philosophy, to say the least, one well worth taking a closer look at.

Keen on painting ever since his childhood, Chandran’s journey in visual art, according to him, has been a gradual one. While still in school, his interest in design was piqued by the idea of aesthetically pleasing typography. In fact, Chandran recalls his habit of writing, in different fonts, in his notebooks in an attempt to make them look appealing. Upon taking up Engineering later, he explored other channels of visual artistic content, dabbling in editing tools, such as photoshop, for institutional magazines and club programmes. Even later, while working in the software industry, Chandran decided to explore photography, an interest that merged well with his love for travelling. Evident as it is, his decision of focusing on visual art as a whole came with the prior experience of having engaged with its different formats. For him, the process of artistic creation is what the focus is on. The work, the end product may be conveyed through myriad shapes but the idea behind it, decidedly, remains the same. 

Indeed, it was not a swift acting catalyst that prompted the man to pursue the field of Visual Art. It was a slow burning interest that drove and evolved his own style in the medium, from his childhood interest in painting to his exploration of photography later on. It all, finally, culminated in him quitting his job to completely devote himself to his passion.

It is, perhaps, a residual effect of Chandran’s own journey that influences his outlook on art and life in general. Throughout his journey, Chandran has evolved his own style in visual art, be it photography or illustration, through a continuous process of trial and error. As he explains, there is a learning curve to almost everything. That period of learning is what is crucial. Mistakes during that period are crucial. It is through these mistakes that the right voice is born. Your own personal voice. Enjoying that whole process of learning, failing and then working on what we failed in, is what’s important. As he states, merely sticking to the conventional means of doing anything and not attempting something in a manner that has not been done before will not foster growth or evolution. 

True to his approach to creating art, Chandran, outright, refuses to assign a fixed meaning to his work. Instead, he leaves it to the viewer, the audience to derive their own meaning. That, according to him, is their own journey to make.

What is really fascinating is the manner in which Chandran draws his own inspiration. As an artist who incorporates different formats in creating artistic pieces, it is no surprise that his own inspiration comes from a multitude of sources, ranging from classical paintings to, even, memes. It is this recognition of artistic talent, regardless of what the channel may be, that truly sets him apart. After all, that talent, as he believes, comes from hours and hours of persistent work.

There is a sense of curated randomness in Chandran’s work. It is not, however, by any means, a chaotic randomness. It is an irregularity that gave birth to his own style and, that, is what truly binds it all. At the end of the day, art does exist in countless forms. It is only an idea or a creative vision that is uniform. And, if you look closer at the different pieces Chandran has created, you can clearly see a singular creative mind churning out beautiful ideas.

Have you seen those photographs of blurry stretched clouds or cars’ tail-lights turned intoto long red and yellow lines? The kind of photographs that just look edited? They simply look otherworldly. Almost as if you are staring at a frozen moment from some dream. Well, that’s the magic of long-exposure photography!

In reality, an editor doesn’t heavily manipulate these photographs. Instead, it’s just a technique of photography. Long-exposure photography is using slow shutter speed to capture the stationary objects while blurring the moving elements of the scene. The stationary objects, in this case, remain sharp and in focus.

Photography is about capturing a moment, a memory. That one split-second of action. But the long-exposure photography technique allows photographers to capture a period of time. A series of events is frozen into a single snapshot. Waves of water, star trails, clouds and their movement – everything is smoother.

But long-exposure photography isn’t just used by landscape photographers. Architectural photographers, street and portrait photographers, etc., use it to add a unique touch of creativity to their art. Today we bring you a small list of talented individuals to show their mastery of this technique!

The Artist List

First up, we have Mayuresh M. Warang. A UX/UI developer based in Mumbai, he is a photography enthusiast. The way he captured the moving vehicles on the road and the waves of water, in multiple pictures, is phenomenal. While the subject is similar, no two photographs are. Each image is a new perspective, yet equally mind-blowing!

Secondly, we have Sourabh Mathapati. A visionary, keen on telling stories through his work, Sourabh is very versatile. He does portrait, macro, wildlife, landscape and product photography. And they are all impeccable! His long-exposure photographs of waterfalls and roads are dream-like!

Thirdly, we have Mohamed Razal. Honestly, his work speaks for itself! In 2020, he won the title of the Grand Winner of Discovery/Animal Planet WildIndia. Not only this, but his photographs have also been published in NatGeo, Nikon and other well-renowned places. The colours, lighting, and entire aesthetic of his photographs is truly trance-like. You can see the use of long-exposure photography in some of his photographs too.

We end our list with Shivakumar Akula. While a 3D VFX artist by profession, he truly possesses some incredible talent in photography. From sunsets to waves, to roads and the cityscape, Shivakumar captures these everyday scenes and makes them look unreal. The way he uses the technique of long-exposure photography is also immaculate. It pushes his photographs to the next level. 

Photography is quite an art that requires skill; not everyone with a camera can make a ‘wow’ roll out of people’s tongues. Astrophotography is one of the most complex genres of photography; capturing the essence of the view in dark – in the absence of light is quite a task. Mere camera can’t accomplish it. To be able to capture the minute details of the night sky, you not only need the basic knowledge of the camera but also the specialized equipment used. Knowledge of specialized features and techniques like managing the shutter speed in order to create star trails, camera censor, manual modes, etc are all required in order to ace the cited genre.

Starting off with Raajan Dutta, the guy with camera and the guy behind the Instagram account @that_canon.guy. Raajan is also the founder of @tncphototours. He not only captures breathtakingly beautiful astronomical shots but also does landscape, nature and travel photography. In his photography you can see amazing control of the camera techniques like the camera sensitivity. You can also see the black and white world of his captures on the instagram account @bw.thatcanonguy.

Next we have an aerospace engineer turned photographer- Arun Hegden. His photography speaks to you in many ways. The colors, the editing and the timing – everything is always on point. His instagram profile @hegdearun follows an aesthetic of 3 similar color pictures in a row but you can see a lot of diversity in the photos. From frosty morning skies to starry night views – he has it all.

Another talent you’d not want to miss out on is Veerendra Jillella. His instagram profile @Veerendrajillella is not only pleasing to the eyes with the pretty variations of the sunset colors, but also a diverse collection of astronomical sceneries. From the lavender starry skies to the pretty yellow and orange shades of sun reflecting on the riverbanks – he has it all.

Lastly, we have the Selenophile – Akash Anandh. His Instagram profile @akashanandh gives you a very adorning sight of the moon; in its various phases – crescent, waxing and full. You also get to see Uranus and Mars along with asteroids – his profile does actual justice to astrophotography in a gorgeous manner.

We, humans, are creatures of the land. We can’t fly – we don’t have wings. Neither can we swim underwater – our lungs aren’t built for that. Yet, we are curious about the unknown. We need to able to see it – what is beyond us – with our own eyes. Hence the inventions of aeroplanes and drones, submarines and ships. Aerial photographers let you see into their world. They not only capture images of the earth from the skies but also let us see the world in a way we don’t usually get to experience it.

By definition, Aerial photography is a capturing image of the Earth’s surface from the its atmosphere with cameras mounted on helicopters, aircrafts, etc. Or in simpler terms, photographing the surface of the Earth from a height. For the most part, Aerial photography is used for mapping purposes, giving valuable information about the topography, geology, soil and vegetation among other things. But there are also aerial photographers who do it to express their artistic vision.

The Short List

And we bring you two such photographers to showcase their breath-taking shots!

First up, we have Veeresh R T from Bangalore, handling the Instagram account @Veereshphotography. A freelance photographer by profession, he practices, portrait photography, wedding photography, etc. But his aerial photographs are simply spectacular. Extremely vibrant, they are beautiful to look at.  His skills and technical talent is clearly visible in these images.

Today, drone technology has given photographers a whole new perspective. And this can be seen in the unique work of Akash Madhavan. Madhavan is an engineer, photographer and also a drone pilot. So, to one’s surprise, the images he captures are magnificent!

Being a drone pilot gives him immense control and advantage while getting the perfect shot. And all his shots are perfect! Whether he’s capturing the image of a parking lot, the bright blue ocean, or the highways with barren lands on the side, he makes it look splendid. Only talent, skills and technique can capture moments the way he does.