Ever since Shikhar Bhattarai, 24, took up photography, he claims he sees things – differently. Even on days when he tries to stay away from his camera, he cannot help but look at the normal daily life’s events and think, “That would’ve made a great shot.”[break]
Another young photographer, Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka, 29, says he now sees things in frames. “It’s almost like my brain is constantly processing frames or pictures of whatever I see.”
Both Bhattarai and Khadka come from academic backgrounds, not at all related with photography. However, in photography they have discovered their ultimate passion and chosen to follow through it as their career and their dream.
Gaurav, who has been taking photographs since he was seven years old, would always be the one behind the camera and clicking pictures on family occasions and at festivals.
In 2005, he participated in the WCN Nature Through Lens photo competition where his submission won the first prize in the macro category.
Since then, he says he has been more active in the field in different ways – be it through operating his website, nepalphotography.org or organizing successful photo exhibitions, like Photo Kavya, with his photographer friends.
Shikhar, on the other hand, is still comparatively new to the field but no less resolute on photography. Initially, Internet was his only teacher as he read a lot of photography journals and articles, exploring and experimenting all the while.
Later, he started sharing his pictures on Flickr, an online community for photographers worldwide. Eventually, he met Gaurav and other young Nepali photographers through such online portals and started sharing their ideas and tips on photography.
Sikhar says that these formal and informal group discussions and other photography workshops have especially been helpful for him to understand photography as an art.
With documentary photography as their major interest, both agree that the prospects in this particular field in Nepal are currently limited. Nonetheless, their love for visual storytelling and documenting lives keeps them determined to pursue this specific form of photography.
“Documentary photography is different as it makes people think and connect viewers to the story being told,” says Shikhar. “As it hasn’t found much space in our media, yet it’s still challenging to earn as much respect through photojournalism, but the scene is changing slowly.”
Gaurav adds that the increasing photography groups, workshops and exhibitions have also helped in creating new platforms and give recognition to emerging documentary photographers.
Both of them, working as freelancers, say they do all kinds of side projects and photography jobs to earn enough so that they can keep supporting themselves. Additionally, they are also moving to multimedia with not just photographs but also taking video and audio as well.
Gaurav has ventured into short films, too, and envisions making feature films in the future. As owning or even hiring good equipment costs too much, he says that one has to work with very limited resources.
“We’ve even worked under the budget of Rs 2,000 for an entire short film,” Gaurav shares. But despite the challenges, he believes that a lot can be achieved with innovative ideas and the right vision.
Likewise, Shikhar believes that photography is not about gears but about the final product. Especially for documentary photography, he says, “You’re asking people to let you in their lives and it can be hard. You need a lot of perseverance and commitment.”
As many young Nepali photographers are still forced to walk away from their interests or give up due to financial pressures, Gaurav and Shikhar seem determined to see it all through.
It is possible to keep following your dream, they believe. It is simple: their motto is, “Buy some strong new shoes, walk around, work hard and capture those few frames that can tell many different stories.”
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