Ashish Sulkh is a travel photographer from New Delhi, India with over six years of experience in custom and specialized photography. Ashish has exhibited his work at various platforms like ITB Berlin- The World Travel Trade Show and World Travel Mart –London amongst others. He has done projects with Assam Rifles, Ministry of Health, UP Tourism, WWF-India, etc. Currently shooting with Leica Systems, Ashish is working on Incredible India campaign with Ministry of Tourism. He considers that a camera is the last thing you require for photography and believes that photography needs to be less perfect and more human in approach.
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Q. Tell us about your projects with Incredible India and how has that shaped you, if at all, as a traveler and photographer?
A. I have been working with ‘Incredible India’ since 2017. It’s been a beautiful journey. Mostly the projects include one state at a time, staying with the locals, knowing the place and shooting the roots and essence of different cultures and lands. So far I have covered 20 states. For me traveling is a myth buster. The more I travel, the more I realize how less I knew and how culture changes every mile. It has helped me a lot in evolving as a human being and with time, I have started observing emotions that I wish to freeze through pictures. So along the way, I capture them With the hope to live those more.
Q. How do you go about choosing the locations for travel photography? Also, tell us the three best places to photograph in India.
A. For me, travel photography is about telling the story of the place and something that makes you visit the place again and again. I don’t choose places specifically, it’s just about exploring the less explored paths. Even If I am choosing some very common spot, I try to shoot the way that a picture makes you visit the place again with a different perspective in your heart. India is a vast country with a versatile and vibrant culture that changes every mile. To go down specifically to three is a tough spot. But still, if I try to, then it would be Lakshadweep Islands (because of the coral reef, walks through the islands and beautiful lagoons), Mizoram (beautiful northeastern state), tribes of Nagaland (they are so vibrant and lively).
Q. What do you love photographing while on your travels and why?
A. I don’t exactly look for opportunities to photograph, I live moments and the ones I feel like taking along, I capture them through my camera. As I mentioned, a photograph is an emotion I wish to live again.
Q. What is your opinion makes a good travel photograph?
A. A photograph which gives enough information about the place, about its beauty, culture, emotions and more importantly make you feel like traveling to the place.
Q. In today’s day and age of social media where every other person claims to be a travel blogger and photographer, how do you make yourself stand out where business in photography is concerned?
A. I feel the camera is the last thing you need to be a traveler and a photographer. I myself started photographing in advertisements first. Its all about delivering the good content and the rest falls in. Even today, the basics and rules are the same. So you keep doing great content and it reaches out to the right places and right people at the right time.
Here is a TedTalk thaat Ashish gave at Manipal University in 2019.
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