Click. Click. Click.
“Hey dude! Look at these photos. Doesn’t she look like a supermodel?”
“Yes man! These are so perfectly clicked. It has to be anyways after all you have a diploma in photography. I see your future. It’s bright.”
Reality check. Reality check. Reality check.
Did I just hear models?
Oh yes! A professional photographer that too with a diploma in photography would obviously click photos of a 30-22-32 size models, right?
But, hey! Haven’t you heard of Rahul Saharan?
Well, yes. You guessed it right. Today we are going to talk about Rahul Saharan, one who ruled the internet a few months before.
Rahul is a Delhi based professional photographer. He was doing his engineering from Allahabad University, but left it in the fourth year because he realized he wasn’t an engineer-material.
He wanted to do MA in photography. His parents never pressurized him for anything. “They just wanted me to become a good human being,” he says. Rahul could have done engineering if his parents wanted him to do but he didn’t want to choke his creativity. Since, there was no pressure by his family, he felt free to take up photography and excel in it. “I never wanted to hate my work. I knew if I become an engineer I wouldn’t be able to work more than 4-5 hrs. Photography you ask? I can click photos for 24 hrs at a stretch, without eating,” Rahul giggles.
Rahul sees beauty outside the flawless skin and perfect physique. He says, “Every woman on Earth has the right to feel beautiful.”
Rahul knew an NGO for the past 3-4 years. This NGO helped acid attack survivors. He visited these girls more often. Sometimes they used to come up to him and tell him their story. They told him how people come up to them and ask them to *cover up their faces because they don’t look beautiful*. Rahul wanted to change this very perception of society. He wanted to make them feel beautiful.
“Why should they cover up their faces, when it’s not their fault at all? I have seen many photos where their faces were either covered up or they made saddening and gloomy expressions. This distressed me always.” Rahul thinks that it is the duty of every artist to make women feel beautiful. So he decided to shoot a calendar with them.
His post on Facebook became viral internationally and people appreciated his work and spirit. “I think this is how it works. The change is in us, we just need to portray it beautifully so that people understand it and accept it. It’s worthless to shout and force them to accept the fact anyhow. Speak through your art and people will be with you.” Rahul adds.
Rahul’s story is an inspirational to many upcoming photographers. His dedication, passion and generosity led him to the position where many dreams of. His family is extremely extraordinary because in India, leaving engineering in the fourth year without doing a melodramatic session at home is extremely exceptional. You cannot even think of doing that, can you?
Rahul feels parents shouldn’t impose their wishes on children. They should give them full freedom to choose their career and hence they would come out with something very innovative and beautiful. Provided they would fall in love with their work.
“Kids nowadays are very smart. They exactly know what they have to do. Just guide them and put your hands on their backs and see the magic happening”, He says.
Imagine people, what would happen if every family becomes like Rahul’s? If some of the photographers become like him? If we need not break any stereotypes to choose our career? India would become the happiest place to live in, wouldn’t it?
This post is a part of our awareness campaign #MyCareerMyChoice. To read more posts from this campaign, please click here.
