Passion Won’t Make You Successful in Photography

If you’re relying only on being passionate for being successful in photography, then, I’m sorry to break that bubble but passion alone won’t keep you in business. It is the harsh truth, but there you have it.

I understand the fact that this will perhaps come as a big surprise to some because we are conditioned to hear the word ‘passion’ everywhere. It is highly spoken of at speeches and on television shows and what not, basically it is everywhere. It promptly shows up at the beginning when an idea is generally discussed; it is extremely exciting and very shiny as all new things are but passion is the first one to get out of the door and run away when it comes to tough times.

Yes, we need passion for it makes you feel alive, brimming with some sort of purpose in life. We love passion and more than that, we really do need it. You would agree that just hearing the word makes you feel happy & motivated.

But, like I’ve said a while back, it’s a very strange thing. It is extremely powerful to start with but at the first sight of problems, it is the first one to vanish. Essentially, that sparkle that I talked about in the beginning, that wears off pretty quickly. It just wants to show up, makes you really happy and then go away.

Passion is a temporary thing but that is perfectly fine, as that is how it is really supposed to be. It is more or a precursor to something better that’s to come. If I can put it bluntly, passion is the seed from which something known as “dedication” grows. And trust me when I say, dedication, that is the real deal.

Dedication makes you continue trudging on when times are hard. Or stay up late till night when your body is breaking down and crying for sleep. Dedication is exactly what pushes you towards making yourself a better photographer, a better business-person and perhaps a better person, overall.

So, to all my photographer friends, there’s just one thing I’d say – Embrace passion with both hands but please don’t expect it to stay forever. For, you must always remember, “Passion is what makes you pick up the camera, but dedication is what keeps it in your hands.”

South India Diary – with Samsung Note 2

I have travelled to some wonderful places all my life, but somehow South India was never quite on that list. But the past 5 days have changed all that.

In the past 5 days, I’ve visited places like Valparai, Munnar, Ooty and the beautiful country-sife of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Thanks to #Zoomcar, from whom I hired a self driven rented car and explored the South India. These images that you see above are with a Samsung Galaxy Note 2. I’ll be sharing the travelogue soon, but I’ve already started sharing a few pictures clicked by DSLR, on my page. So, if it interests you at all, please visit : Bobby Roy Photography || Facebook for more pictures.

I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures. 🙂

Women With Glasses are Super Attractive

I honestly believe that women who wear glasses are extremely attractive. Of course, this doesn’t mean that I find women who do not wear glasses any less attractive, it’s just something about women with glasses. I think it has to do with the studious and brainy look. The look of an intelligent and sophisticated woman who I could have long and serious talks with or team up with as a study buddy.

And maybe it has something to do with the fact that a lot of girls who wear glasses are the nice, reserved type who may work at a charity when not having a prolonged Saturday afternoon study session at a library. Some of these girls tend to be a little on the prudish side and are often ignored by other guys because they are “boring.”

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for such women. I guess it has a lot to do with me being old fashioned and wanting that “nice girl” that I could be affectionate with unconditionally and have that affection returned in kind. As well as being best friends to each other.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule and I am quite aware that there are many girls who wear glasses that are not smart nor kind. And it seems as if the secret is out as more bad boys are pursuing women who wear glasses and more bad women are donning glasses to ensnare nice guys and break their hearts.

Those who say that a woman’s beauty is diminished by her wearing glasses are very dense. For those of you women who wear glasses but think that no guy will ever like you because you do, I just want you to know that you are wrong. I’m positive proof of that.

Women who wear glasses aren’t attractive? Think again.

A day with Ferrari 458 Italia

Being a photographer, and a specialist in automotive photography at that has its perks. Like days when you get to spend the better part of the day with supercars. And when it comes to these uber-sexy machines, what better than the beautiful prancing horse – Ferrari!

Got to spend a day with the beautiful Ferrari 458 Italia, courtesy a corporate client and enjoyed it to the core. Sharing a few pictures clicked with the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. The proper shoot pictures will follow suit, hopefully soon. 🙂

Ferrari 458 Italia by Bobby Roy

Ferrari 458 Italia by Bobby Roy

Ferrari 458 Italia by Bobby Roy

Why I Love Travelling…

I am a photographer by profession and an explorer by heart & passion. I have loved travel for as long as I can remember. My parents instilled it in me without even really trying for it. Since, my father was in the defense forces, it meant constant shifting from one state to other in a span of 3 odd years or so. I am thankful to the transferable service that my father had, I could proudly boast of seeing sights that many of us do not even get to imagine.

But, if I seriously think about it, I think the proverbial travel bug bit me when I was in high-school. It was a school trip, and I cannot even begin to say the kind of fun I had in the trip, and the kind of high that it gave me. Was I in love with the places that I travel to? O absolutely! But more so, I am in love with the entire of experience of travelling itself. I just cannot get enough of it. I want to see as much as I possibly can in this one life that I have been given by the Almighty. This is, I think how true love feels. This is the kind of love that absolutely consumes you, that pains you to be away from. That kind of love that lasts for an eternity.

Since the first journey that I took, I have been just hooked onto it. And from there it has just grown. I have travelled to many different places, and in many different ways – I’ve taken buses, I have taken trains, air travel as well. And I have trekked to places where automobiles could not reach. I think, in this entire process, I have also discovered my preferences as far as travelling is concerned, since I have travelled solo (mostly), in a group, and even with family. But, what I love the most is travelling independently & solo. And to places that are rich in culture. Yes, my heart is completely biased when it comes to the Himalays, but I take pleasure in visiting other places as well.

As much as I can, I make it my priority to travel & see different places and experience different cultures & traditions. It not only makes me happy but I also feel it fulfills me in a different level altogether. Each of my travels has changed me, for good. It has not only shown me a lot of different landscapes, made me meet a lot of new people, but it has also taught me to be patient, to be calm & ofcourse how to actually enjoy my own company. Some-day, I would love to travel full-time, but for now the arrangement which I have works perfectly for me.

Like everything, I enjoy sharing my travel experiences with my friends & family and I hope through my stories, you would also motivate and inspire your own self to go out, discover places which are waiting to be discovered…

The top 12 reasons I’m Afraid To Get Married

Once you are of the ‘right age’ for getting married (according to the society anyway), you would somehow start seeing that all your friends are swiftly getting married; it is all over your social news-feed all the time. And although marriage seems the norm, but it intimidates me big time. Weddings used to seem like fun and a pretty whimsical topic when I was 20 and at that time it felt so far off. And although, I might (or might not!) get married eventually, it’s become a LOT more terrifying now that I feel it’s all around me.

So, tonight when I just cannot sleep, I have penned down 12 top reasons why I am scared to get married some-day.

1. I love my independence: And although I understand the fact that you can still be independent when you get married, but it is a very fine & perhaps a pretty difficult balance to keep and you have to work at it every single day. I feel some of the strongest marriages are the ones where both the people maintain their independence while still working on a strong partnership. However, at the same time I worry about how difficult it would be to keep my own life while forming a new one with someone else.

2. It’s going to be a challenge every single day: You know, I would want my marriage so badly to work, but I also know that in the really tough moments, I’m going to have to fight through it instead of just plain giving up. I’ll need to admit when I’m wrong and hold my ground when I truly believe I’m right. You can read as many books or as many articles as you want but there is no specific answer to a ‘successful marriage’. Everybody’s different, and I know the only way to learn how to make it work is to just go ahead and do it. BUT, I am shit-scared!

3. I have to completely trust someone: I do not only need to trust my partner completely, but I need to count on her too. And she needs to count on me. I have to love her at her worst and she needs to love me at my worst. We would need to stick together when things are ugly instead of romantic. We would need to trust each other that we can rely on one another through anything. Which, I believe is everything I want and perhaps simultaneously the scariest thing in this entire planet.

4. I am scared of screwing it up: Because when it comes to marriage, there are abundant ways you can actually screw it up.

5. It’s not me anymore, it’s “our” story: It is something that I would want, but after so many years of telling just my story, it is a scary and somewhat intimidating thought to know that someone else is going to be a part of it for the rest of my life.

6. Getting comfortable with your partner can be wonderful, yet scary: Because, they know everything about you. That passion is there but it just doesn’t feel like that romantic love anymore. It is more like a solid, dependable, genuine love, which I really want but it is scary to think that once you are married, you’ll perhaps never experience that ‘falling in love with someone new’ ever again. Or may be I am wrong, I don’t know…

7. I want marriage & my partner to be my main priority but I don’t want it to dictate my life: There are so many other things that I would love to be, besides a husband and I know that I’m going to have to work very hard to make sure that those things actually happen. I think, the only way to make sure that a marriage works is to make sure that I don’t get distracted or disturbed by petty things – things like money and success and the social status, etc., all of it needs to take a back-seat to my partner. But, it is also equally important for me to make absolutely sure that in addition to a loving husband, I’d love or perhaps I AM a lot of other things – a son, a brother, a friend, a co-worker, or a boss, or even a role-model and a lot of other things that contribute to my sense of self.

8. I’m already having trouble figuring my own self and my life: And I know that marriage just means handling all that, as well as the life of your partner, not to mention kids if you plan to eventually have them. There are times I feel so confused and uncertain about who I am and what I’m doing that I feel completely overwhelmed by this entire discussion of getting married. The idea of handling myself and my confused life while trying to build a new life with someone else is a lot to think about.

9. Give and Take: That is what marriage is all about, I think. It’s about balancing and sharing the challenges and working at it together. Sometimes, one person is weak and the other person will have to be the one to carry all the strain and vice-versa. I know that when I’m going through something, my future wife will be there to help me carry the load. And I know that when she’s under stress, I will want to do everything I can to help her. I just sometimes worry that my strength might be inadequate.

10. You have to be selfless: And trust me when I say, it’s really really REALLY hard. It is so easy to just say the words and hide behind them. “Be Selfless”. “Put the other person first”. “Make it a team effort and not an individual effort”. But the hardest part is to put these words into action. I have understood the fact that marriage means sacrifice, but it scares me to know that there are things I’m going to have to do that I don’t perhaps want to do. I realize that if I’m going to expect her to make adjustments to put me first, I will have to do the same. But knowing that doesn’t make it any easier.

11. I only want to do this once: I understand completely, that divorce is a part of reality and that plenty of people do not have any other choice and that sometimes it is a neccessary part of life. But, for me it will be just once. I want to be with that ONE person for the rest of my life. But, there’s no guarantee. You can do literally everything in your power to make your marriage work and to make sure it lasts but there’s no magic wand to make sure that it does. You just need to take the leap of faith.

12. I won’t look or be the same person now in 20 years: Or even 15. Or even 10. And neither will my future wife. The person you marry today won’t be the person you’re married to years down the line – physically or mentally or emotionally. Marriage is a gamble. You’re gambling that your love for the person you marry will grow and adapt as your partner grows and adapts. It’s up to you how to handle the change, but it’s still scary nonetheless.

What a winter Expedition I had!

What an amazing winter expedition I had, with two of my close buddies – snow capped mountains all around, and temperatures dipping to -10 degrees celsius. THIS is precisely what we had come here for. Read the entire story and see the pictures HERE.

Deriving Motivation || The Art of Photography

 

 

Photography, they say is an art. It takes a lot of hard work and an eye for detail to create some dramatic pictures; pictures which would not only be stunning to look at but pictures which would tell a story, so to speak. But, all this creative thinking does take a toll on the mind, and your mental state to some extent, if I may put it that way. You see, photography as a hobby and as a business are two different things altogether. When one pursues it as a hobby, all one need to do is just go out without really any particular agenda (although it always helps to have a aim in mind before just randomly getting trigger-happy) and create pictures; pictures which make YOU happy and perhaps keeps your creative juices flowing. However, when it comes to the business end of photography, that is where things start to get a little dicey & to a certain extent dirty.

The general consensus is that a photographer just creates pictures and earns money out of it (preferably big bucks), whereas the truth couldn’t be further apart. The actual photo-shoot which I talk about is just a mere 25% of it while the rest 75% of the work includes a lot of running around, client meets, hours and hours worth phone-calls, some more meetings, some haggling around with the clients for “best prices” (and what not!), and if they appreciate your work or if you get ‘lucky’, you might end up getting the assignment. Apart from all this, we, the bunch of professional photographers also need to constantly be on our toes when it comes to inspiration and deriving motivation. I derive my motivation from nature, by taking long walks with the camera, or perhaps with just my cell-phone, using the phone’s camera as best as I can. I just soak it all in, rather than sitting infront of a PC and going through other photographers’ work tirelessly. Yes, that is something which I do, from time to time, but I don’t make it a point to soak it all in to an extent that I start to go crazy about it. You see, what happens when you keep on looking at other people’s work so obsessively is that it somehow slows you down to an extent that it might even start to affect your own work in a negative manner. It might even depress you! I know, because I have dedicated a few years of my life doing just that; going through people’s work from all over the world and trying to gauge how exactly did the said photographer photographed it, forgetting that nothing can be a better teacher than going out and actually creating pictures.

Inspiration is a good thing, I am not denying the fact. But, inspiration when becoms an obsession, all it will end up giving you is a mild heart-attack, perhaps even panic attacks. What I would suggest you do, if you need inspiration, has got nothing to do with photography, actually. You go out, take a walk, go watch a movie, listen to music, take a long stroll through a park, meet your friends, talk to them about anything BUT photography, go on a date. Do whatever you might feel will relax your mind, will calm you down. Because, once you are relaxed, ideas start to flow. Atleast, that’s what I do whenever I feel a little pressurized by the “business of photography”, if I may. You’ll notice a drastic and positive change in your photography when you learn how to relax that mind of yours. I speak from personal experience; just wanted to share this here so that anyone who feels lost and doesn’t quite know how to improve their work can understand fairly clearly, how exactly to do that. Improving one’s work, be it any creative genre has actually got nothing to do with that exact art-form. Rather, inspiration must be derived from something else; anything which you might think can inspire you.

I have given up thinking about how much money I have been earning or what my family thinks about my profession, or what everyone thinks of me. Instead, I just create pictures because I love doing so. And by love, I really mean I LOVE it! That passion, that love for photography is something which I cannot even begin to describe in words. So, if you want to get into photography professionally, for only fame & money, trust me, you’d get nowhere. You need to first understand that photography in itself is something which you do for your own satisfaction rather than filling your pockets with dough or to satisfy people who, perhaps, do not even care about photography at all.  As for me, I feel really good that I am in a profession which, perhaps, many of us dream of but only a handful of us have the guts to go ahead and actually do what we’ve wanted to do all our lives. For, regret is something which I do NOT want to have. 🙂

Happy clicking.

 

Around town…

I love to spend whatever free time I get photographing in and around town. And working for myself gives me ample time to relax and photograph whatever I like. For a change, it is so nice NOT to work according to stringent norms and all. Here are just a few random pictures I have been shooting recently ( in the last 7 odd days). Just thought perhaps I should share these with all you lovely people. 🙂

Have a great festive season, everyone. God bless. 🙂

Motibagh, New Delhi Picture: Bobby Roy || Bobby Roy Photography

Strings of Love. Photo: Bobby Roy || Bobby Roy Photography

Freedom… Photo: Bobby Roy || Bobby Roy Photography

Qutub Minar, New Delhi Photo: Bobby Roy || Bobby Roy PhotographyPh

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Canon 70-200! :)

Yes, it’s the 3rd birthday of my beloved 70-200 2.8 IS II and during these 3 years, it has performed absolutely magnificently. I’ve been bowled over by the quality of images that it produces time and again. Yes, it’s a heavy, big white beast and takes time to master, but THIS lens has been my bread & butter lens for more than a couple of years now, and I just cannot imagine my life without the mighty 70-200. I have put this lens through usage which most users wouldn’t really want to; I have used this in absolute heavy downpour, snowfall, moisture, dirt and what not, and this lens just shines every time. I am proud that I have the 70-200 with me.

I have, what you’d put it a nice collection of primes and zooms, but the 70-200 is called upon when I really need to get the shot! It’s fast, has a superb AF, and that 4-stop IS is a boom in low-light conditions. The 70-200 2.8 IS II has always been behind the shots, hence, I thought it’s time I shoot the beauty on it’s birthday.:-) Here are a few photographs shot, of the beautiful and gorgeous Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS II USM Lens. Happy Birthday!

 

The beautiful Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS II USM Lens

 

That red ring, those big black rings and that sure weight of the lens is something that I have fallen in absolute love with, from the 1st day!

 

The thick and heavy lens barrel provides for an amazing grip, and is ergonomically just perfect.

 

Front view of the beauty.