Thank you for taking interest to know about this blog!
xplorewithvijay.com is a photographic travel blogging website where I take you through delightfully stunning locations by narrating incredible travel experiences and magnificent photographs!
ABOUT ME AND MY PASSION FOR TRAVEL
I am a passionate Himalayan lover, travel writer and a photographer. A Computer Science Engineer by education and Software Developer by profession, I have always had an intense desire to explore mountains and excel as a photographer. Having said that I have been able to balance my passion and profession extremely well.
I favour offbeat and adventure travel, overlooking the usual touristy things and prefer taking up solo treks or travel with a small bunch of liked minded people.
I am from the southern Indian city of Chennai and there are plenty of options to take treks and trips to. Down south, the Western Ghats is a nature lover’s delight offering breathtaking landscapes and is a perfect synonym for adventure. Wandering in these spectacular hills helps me invoke thoughts that better connect my conscience. Being a classic introvert, I consider myself lucky enough to be in isolation for longer periods and that has helped me better understand my subconscious mind and everything else that goes around it.
THE JOURNEY FROM A NOVICE TO PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER
Almost everywhere I go, my camera accompanies me! It’s an inseparable entity to me!
My liking towards photography started during my school days. For almost every event that took place at home, I would be engaged with capturing the moments! Those days I had an Olympus film camera and it was just an affinity to shoot photos, print and put them all in an album. As years went by, film rolls and cameras started fading away giving way to the digital kin.
I was, still, pursuing my graduation and the digital SLR cameras were beyond all that I could afford. My next companion was the good old digital camera offered by Nokia mobiles. With a small form factor, the only way to experiment was framing the shots! After months of use, my good old Nokia mobile device gave way for an android mobile phone from Sony. At that time, it was the flagship offering from Sony. This device had brilliant optics. It was during these days, my passion towards learning the fundamentals of photography grew stronger and I landed up purchasing my first Digital SLR camera– The Canon 600D!
It was fun and crazy days exploring the features performing numerous experiments with different settings and sharing photos with people I knew! I started getting recognition from people known and unknown. Getting accolades from people around is always a great feel and as a mark of respect & happiness is this website!
I offer my photography services to friends and anyone happy with my work.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
My photographs have been published in NatGeo Traveller India, Outdoor Photographer (a US-based photography magazine), and several Photo Exhibitions across India. More information here!