In conversation with Abhishek Tripathi, the traveler who found photography

Abhishek Tripathi, a lawyer and also a graduate from Speos photography institute in Paris, is a budding entrepreneur and owner of a photography company called Wedding Jingles. The company is based in Patna, Delhi and Paris. Abhishek has a good 4 years of experience in candid photography and loves travelling places and clicking photos.
Abhishek also loves talking about his experiences and so, when PatnaBeats asked him about some of his travels and his wedding jingles journey so far, this is what he said

PatnaBeats: Tell us something about yourself, your family and your upbringing.

Abhishek Tripathi: I was born in a middle class family in Ara. My father is in a government job and my mom is a homemaker. I have lived in a sainik school which was a boarding school, in Tilaiya, as a child. I moved to Ara later for my matriculation. I got a scholarship after 10th to study in Delhi and I completed my 11 and 12th from Delhi.

When did you have your first interaction with photography? What fascinated you?

One of my friend came for a show in Delhi and he gave me his DSLR and I took some pics with it. I was amazed with the results. My friends were very appreciative of my first pics taken from a DSLR. I had a film camera back when I was in 10th std. In the 2nd year of law school, I bought a DSLR of my own as I had started working in Barclays Bank customer service and had been saving to buy the camera. 3 months down the line I got my first paid photography project. Soon after this, I got a chance to work in delhi in a wedding and later for a cinematography company. I worked there for 1 year. Working there helped me a lot in polishing my skills and saving money for buying more photography related equipments.  Also, I love travelling a lot and I am very passionate about it. Whatever money I was earning, I was spending in buying gears or in travelling, nothing else.

How did you nurture your passion for photography?

I won 23 competitions in 2013 at different levels including an international competition which was themed on sustainable development. Got a chance to travel and explore more because of this.

Your transition from Law to professional photography, how did your parents react to it?

My parents were shocked in the initial phase. They were worried about my decision to switch from law to photography as photography, in their opinion, couldn’t give me much stability. In our society a profession in civil services, law, medical or engineering is seen as good and reputable, anything else falls under the ‘unstable’ bracket. But later they saw my work and my dedication towards it and started supporting and backing me in my endeavour, including my grandfather. Today, my family believes in me and thats all I need. Its my biggest strength!

Why did you leave lucrative opportunities in Europe and Delhi, and decided to come back to Bihar?

Abhishek Tripathi: I got a chance to study in Europe and then I worked there for sometime too but eventually I felt like returning to India and to work in india. I wanted to use my knowledge and ideas in india to guide people here. I love my city and my country so I prefer to work for my people. I wanted to stay with mom and that too was a big reason that I wanted to return and work here in India.
I worked in Delhi for 2 years while I was still studying in law school. Managing both at the same time complicated matters. But you gotta do what yo gotta do to shape your future better and after learning all that I could, I prefer to work in Patna as its my hometown and I just love the environment here.

What challenges did you face and how did you overcome those?

As I said my family didn’t support me in the beginning. Law school and work was tough as I had to study in college in the day time and then shoot in night hours, balancing carefully between the two. I worked in Barclays customer service too (night shift)for 4 months to cover the expenses of my equipements. So that made it all the more tougher to go with the photography and college.

(I remained dedicated to my work and I never stopped trying. This helped me in overcoming all the problems)

Along with Photography, what else are you passionate about?

Along with photography, I am crazy for travelling.I have a wanderlust. I took my first solo trip when I was 17 to Darjeeling, Sikkim and Bhutan. I planned the trip with a friend but he cancelled his plan when I was at the railway station. My parents asked me to come back but I decided to go ahead with the plan. It was an amazing experience. I didn’t stop at this. I have been to 26 nations till now and I am only 23. If all goes well I would have travelled everywhere by the age of 30. I have been to Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong kong, Macau, Bhutan, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Czech republic, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina among others. I never plan my trip. I just leave and I keep talking to locals and decide my next destination. I prefer to stay with locals. I am a big time foodie and I love to try local cuisines.
I am also into scuba diving. I have dived in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

What do you have to say about Instagram which has taken the photography world by storm?

Abhishek Tripathi: Instagram is a wonderful platform to share pictures. It helps you in exploring what people are during around the world. It helps you in meeting new people too. Its making the world a small global village. Instragram helps people to discover your work. Using hashtags helps you to reach out to your target audience and I think innovations like these are very good for business promotion.

What are your future plans? What are we going to see through your lenses next?

I am shooting weddings and my startup is called “wedding jingles”. Its based out of kankarbagh, Patna. We provide wedding photography (candid and traditional), cinematography services, maternity shoot, fashion and advertising shoot in Patna, Delhi and Europe. I returned to India 2 months back and now you are gonna see a lot of Indian weddings photos, fashion and fine art photography work. I have a masters degree in photography and I wish to serve full justice to the degree awarded. You will get to see travel photos from my various trips in the coming time.

What would be your message/ advise to your juniors from the state who aspire to become photographers?

Never stop chasing your dreams. Live your dreams. You can achieve everything with hard work and dedication and yes, believe in God. Those who help themselves, God certainly help those people.

You can follow his work at : Facebook, Instagram, or www.weddingjingles.in

Quote of the day: “Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow”
―  Imogen Cunningham