As told to Unnati Sagar
Nimit Nigam is a 27 years old, self-trained photographer from Delhi, India. Being an avid learner, Nimit’s thirst for something more than paints and canvases landed him in the field of photography. He thus started clicking frames instead of painting them. He likes photographing different subjects and works across various genres of photography. He hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art Education and currently pursues a career where he can utilize his creativity, skill and interest, and direct them towards the success of his organisation. He has judged National and International photography contests, won many awards, and his work has been published in National Geographic Traveller Romania, Etihad Airways, and many other portals.
From canvas to cameras, how and when did your journey with photography begin?
I inherited the photography genes from my father and my maternal grandfather. I was unaware about my love for photography until my third year of graduation. That’s when I clicked pictures from a borrowed digicam, on my college trip to Kerala. And this is how my journey with photography began. Since then, there is no looking back. It has been 6 long years since photography has become the most essential element of my daily life, just like food and oxygen. Everything that I have learnt and achieved until now is because of the unconditional support, love and encouragement of my family & friends.
Being a student of the fine art stream, did the process of selftraining in the field of photography become easier for you? As a selftrained photographer, what were the various difficulties you had to face?
Indeed, my fine art background helped me a lot in learning photography. Some rules of art and photography are quite similar and connected. Because of paintings and sketching I was already aware of framing a subject and color schemes. I st arted photography in the 3rd year of my graduation but my training started from the very 1st day. During those days I did not have much access to online learning tools like Google and YouTube, neither did I own a D-SLR (or even digicam). That led to a lot of difficulties and I had to face many challenges. At times I borrowed camera from my relatives. I was not learning under anyone so I got a chance to try my hands on every genre and polish my skills equally on everything. May be that’s why you will find almost every kind of photographs in my portfolio; from portrait to street, landscape to architecture, astro to timelapses. I only had 1 lens when I started photography and also coming from middle class family my daily expenditure were bare minimum. I always have believed in the saying “Whatever happens, happens for good.” Self-learning is not that easy but it made me tough and confident. Now I am well aware of my capabilities and can photograph anything and everything I like.
Your photographs stretch across different genres. From portraiture and candids to landscapes and astrophotography. Which genre would you say, you like the most? And why?
I call myself a travel photographer more than anything else. Because I love to travel and while travelling you can shoot a variety of photographs across different genres. Though astrophotography is always my first priority in travel photography.
