Aparesh Sarkar, EFIAP, FFIP, Hon. CPA,  Hon. FICS, Hon. PESGSPC, GPA. PESGSPC, FSAP Country: India     My tryst with photography began in my teens, with an AGFA Isoly Junior Camera gifted by an uncle in the year 1967-68.  Photography as a profession was not too much of a career neither a passionate hobby for most in rural India. It was only when my uncle got married did I see a photographer taking photographs. He was gifted with two identical AGFA- JSOLY camera's and he gladly gave me one. I was then only 14 years old. This JSOLY camera was known in England as ISOLY, had a plastic body, meniscus plastic lens with a fixed aperture(f/8) and shutter speed 1/30 and 1/100. A medium format film camera. This camera became my companion overnight. I started shooting pictures, experimenting with lights, and later develop them in darkrooms. The magic created in darkrooms would keep me mesmerized and immersed in photography for hours. In the professional front I was working in a financial institution which would take me places every two years and I had the privilege of travelling to a new place and settling there, helped me sharpen my photographic skills.  In the year 1984,I travelled to the Andaman and Nicobar Island's and stayed there for two years. During the stay, I travelled the length and breadth of the island photographing the aborigines of the Nicobar, the virgin beaches of the Andaman's, the ruins of the Viper Island, the Corals of the Ross Island.

The roaring seas, the azure sea, the grey sea...I loved to be with them and picturise every changing mood and light.
There was no looking back when after two years I arranged a slide show of these pictures after coming back to Calcutta.
In the year 2000, I was awarded by Hinkle spick India ltd. in a nationwide competition for advertising photography as the top winner. My first Salon Photography was way back in 1986, Luxembourg Biennial Salon.
After I retired from my profession in the year 2014 I had the time and opportunity to take up photography seriously, participating in salons worldwide, with honours gradually coming in.
I was awarded the first place in International Competition and got a cash prize of around 2500 USD in "Best of Photography 2015" organised by Serbin Communications, Santa Barbara, California.
I love to see the great Masters' work like Henry Cartier Bresson, Ansel Adams, Benu Sen....the contemporary photographers like Steve McCurry, Prabuddha Dasgupta, Avishek Das, and I must mention the name of my Photography teacher, Mr Shyamal Kumar Roy, a legend in Indian pictorial photography in India who has guided me on my later part of Photographic work.
The ever changing nature of the landscape enthrals me. I like to capture the vast, never-ending lands, beautifully painted by natural lights, changing every moment making my photography a form of art. But photographing human being especially children is my most favourite hobby.
For young photographers, I would say ....plan a shoot thoroughly..study the subject and location , knowledge about both is  extremely important. Time is important too .The gadgets should be checked before going to a photo shoot. And lastly participation in professional competition is a must ...since it helps in keeping in touch with the latest.