It might sound monotonous to say ‘he was always interested in photography’. But the phrase is true for Auditya Venkatesh, a photographer who is always exploring new ideas and concepts. He is a true travel photographer who is “never home”.
His photographs speak loudly to a beholder and are heartening and mystical. “I was always fascinated by photography. When I was too young to be trusted with the camera, I would make my family and friends sit down and sketch them all. I would then sketch out a little negative of it and put them in an envelope that said ‘FotoFlash’ on top,” recalls Auditya.
He was seven years old when he first clicked a picture, which is aesthetically perfect, of a mother and her daughter on a lake in Kodaikanal. “I still think it is one of the best pictures I have clicked,” he says. Thus began his journey as a lensman and his parents rewarded him with his first camera 5MP Olympus, after a few years. It was much later, after his savings grew, that he bought himself a Cannon EOS 500D and he says, “There was no turning back after that.”
‘It is not the camera, but the person behind the lens that makes a picture a pro’ holds true to its words as Auditya has captured a number of extraordinary clicks even on his smartphone. “There is beauty in everything and that is what I try to capture. Initially my idea was about going to a beautiful place to look for something. But there is so much we walk past everyday without looking that way. Now, my effort has been to try and capture these things which has helped me shape my style,” he explains.
His journey alongside his prized asset, camera, has instilled a number of memories for him. He recalls, “One of the best memories I have had during my travel as a photographer was meeting Dalai Lama on a flight. While conversing with him, I asked him if I could click his picture. He said ‘yes’ after removing his sunglasses and replacing them with his spectacles. He then told me, ‘It is important to be able to see the eye in the picture’. He then asked me if I didn’t want a picture with him. Of course I wanted it, but was a little embarrassed to ask for it. Nevertheless, I did get a picture with him.”
He describes that particular day as a masterclass in humility. “This is what you call grounded even when you are 35,000 feet-high up in the air.”
A lensman with a lidless eye, he gathers inspiration from nature, which has all the patterns, colours, textures and movements.
“They all teach me something,” he says.
It is the conversations he has with varied people that helps him decide the story he wants to tell with his pictures. He comments on how technology has made photography simpler. “Technology is facilitating us to do our jobs better. Every professional started as an amateur and it is great that a lot of people are taking to photography,” he says.
A self-taught photographer, he also loves driving and gaming. A sought-after professional, his Facebook page ‘Audi Photography’ has become a household name among many photo enthusiasts.