2014, a year of hits and misses

As I sit down and look back at 2014, I cannot help but feel it has been one of the most turbulent years of my life. A year where I missed a lot of opportunities, a year when I finally transitioned from amateur to professional photographer and a year when I finally started looking at the world from a different perspective (for better or for worse.)

2014 began on a somewhat bad note with back aches, which transformed into back spasm by February, when I attended Auto Expo.

Back spasms kept me grounded at home for more than a month and even after I started venturing outdoor, I couldn’t travel long distance. Worse still, I had to turn down not 1 but 3 sponsored trips (2 due to back problem and 1 due to it clashing with my Ladakh trip) and a dozen or more other events.

Good thing was, I finally started paying attention to my health and lost quite a bit of weight and gained good amount of muscle mass (sadly I have regained some of the weight.)

I also did my life’s first photoshoot in a studio.

And followed it up with a few outdoor portrait shoots (free), an engagement shoot (paid assignment) and finally a wedding in Gujarat (paid assignment).

Photographing the beautiful wedding of Jigisha and Upamanyu also helped me discover the fact that I actually enjoyed photographing weddings and events. And it didn’t actually feel like a job (I initially thought it would feel like a job), but rather something fun and exciting, like landscape and architecture photography, which I love to do.

This year I also started photographing automobiles for review on BCMTouring and for the very first review we got the fantastic Suzuki V-Strom from Suzuki India and photographing this beast of a touring motorcycle was a delight for a travel and automobile enthusiast like me.

Of course the real icing on the cake was my 5th trip to Ladakh in October end. This trip has become my best visit to Ladakh till now, even surpassing my 2006 solo ride to Ladakh and Zanskar, which until then, was my favorite. I not only got to see a side of Ladakh I had never seen or experienced before, I also gave my best effort to landscape photography, routinely waking up at 4:30am and usually staying out till 7pm in the numbing winds of Ladakh.

While as a photographer I have a long-long way to go, this year has provided me lot of experience and perspective, which should help me grow as a photographer at a faster pace than ever before.

Of course there were a few other bitter experiences this year, which taught me valuable lessons on what people can be actually like and I feel those experiences have taught me to behave in a much more mature manner than ever before.

At the end of the day, even though this year began on a bad note for me, it has metamorphosed into something positive and full of energy and it is a year I would vividly remember for the rest of my life.

As I look ahead to 2015, my only resolution is going to be (borrowing it from Nike), “Just do it!” That’s right; this is the year I want to spend less time thinking and contemplating and more time doing things and experiencing life.

Hope you had a great year as well and I wish you have an even better one next year!