Today we’d like to introduce you to Pawan Singh.
Pawan, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
For me photography is somewhere between a hobby and passion these days. I got into to this when I was in 8th Grade …. But I was not having camera, so I started collecting my pocket money to buy one and after a year I was able to buy my first camera ever … I clearly remember the brand name it was Yashika, however my pocket money was not enough, so my Mom contributed some money for me… so all credit goes to my lovely mother.
I started pushing the shutter mostly during summer vacation…. And was able to capture life, family, vacations, scenery etc. But the problem was to develop all those prints… as it cost some money, because I never worked in a dark room, so not at all aware how to develop those and had to give someone else to do the job …. ☹ then slowly I had to stop it, as I was not having enough pocket money to develop all the films….. and after that I never turned back to Photography. There was a long break, a family and a career outside of photography of course required my focus and undivided attention. Like others I started my job after completion of my Masters as a Database Administrator in IT industries… and got busy in day to day life … doing nothing special.
In year 2015 one of my friend asked me to buy a Camera for him during thanks giving, and he asked me to buy this in bundle. Long back I used film camera and was not having any idea on these digital cameras… so was kind of scared how can I find a good bundle deal for him… then I started reading about camera bodies and its features. See what happened… this research leads me back to the photography which was my wish when I was kid…. This time I was capable of buying a good digital camera and start pursuing my hobby again.
So, this time credit goes to my dear friend Pradeep Bhargva who asked me to buy a camera for him… and of course getting tremendous support from my pretty wife & my lovely daughters, to do photography as I am giving bit less time to them and toggling between my job and photography.
And here I am, doing photography seriously for 2 years from now and I am loving it…. it is passion now…. I found passion in portrait, landscape and Astro photography. I also do some street photography whenever I travel but very rarely.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I have not shot an extended amount of time with film, so I don’t know much about the challenge shooting film, but I can certainly say, now a day’s Digital camera technology has made photography very easy, you can use this technology to compose and properly expose an image. Only the thing is you really needs to be master of your camera’s features and how to use this properly (Going through the user manual will surely help). A quick setting in your camera’s menu and you have a choice of grid overlays. Fibonacci, rule of thirds, golden rule etc. will do the trick.
Histogram right there on the screen, is your great friend and you know whether highlights and shadows are done right or not. I do use it a lot to verify my image are properly exposed or not. I have not done much work yet and very new in photography, so I am not in the position to give tips to anyone, but I just put my full effort to create an image. I do take 3-4 frames of same thing, just to ensure I am getting it right or not.
Though digital equipment makes photography way easy, but the equipment doesn’t make the shot. It’s you behind the camera make it work. One more thing I would like to add here is that I really don’t like spending too much time in post processing, so I try to get the image right in camera itself and then do a bit of post processing.
Artists rarely, if ever pursue art for the money. Nonetheless, we all have bills and responsibilities and many aspiring artists are discouraged from pursuing art due to financial reasons. Any advice or thoughts you’d like to share with prospective artists?
For those who is having financial concern should not get obsessed to buy more gears … frankly speaking buying too much gears won’t help to create good images, it’s you who creates the image. So, I would suggest to focus more on photography not on gears and just buy which you think you can use and work best with your style of work.
Also keep looking for the opportunity to earn through your photography … you can start with portrait’s work and then slowly get into the business.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I would suggest seeking out a group of likeminded people. Facebook and Meetup make it easy to get connected and get out and shoot. Also watching YouTube videos will surely help. There are tons of information. I learnt a lot from YouTube videos.
I joined couple of meet up groups and started attending those meetup events and workshops in the area. For basic photography and becoming master of your camera gear, I can recommend joining “Katy Photography Meetup Group “. The organizers Alex Santiago & Debi run this and trust me they are very good and explain the things very clear.
HoustonPhotoWalks is another large and active group on Meetup.com and Facebook. Joe Lippeatt and team do a fantastic job of organizing unique photo walks.
I would like to mention my photographer friend Achim Burgardt, who organize two meet up groups “Sugar Land Photography Group” and “Photography Houston”. These two have been a bit inactive over the past several months due to his personal work but I am sure he we’ll pick this up again.
Contact Info:
- Address: Houston, TX
- Website: http://pawansingh1431.wixsite.com/pawansphotography
- Phone: 7135624294
- Email: pawansphotography@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pawansphotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ps1photography/
Image Credit:
Neha Sudan, Jordan Dulaney, Amber, Jessica Trione, Matt Carter.
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