Entrepreneur and photographer Gautam Kulkarni on how traveling played a major role throughout his journey

Travelling is not about seeing places but about experiencing cultures. Entrepreneur and photographer Gautam Kulkarni has travelled to many places, but his unique idea about giving photographs back to locals wherever he has travelled, gave him an opportunity to experience cultures in a way many of us don’t.

Living in Dubai, he used to always travel to India for summer vacations as a kid but, his true connection to India started when he started travelling along the length and breadth of the country for his unique concept ‘pictureforapicture’. His signature style is to photograph people in their natural habitats and give us a glimpse of their lives through his lens.

He tells us that the idea of ‘pictureforapicutre’ was born during his trip to Allahabad to witness the Maha Kumbh Mela in 2012.  He was excited to photograph these moments and it was while taking a photograph one afternoon that he was asked by a small boy what he was ready to give back. This is when it struck him that taking photos felt selfish as we take snapshots of someone else’s life and give nothing back in return. He decided to print the photo he took of the boy and give it back to him. The gamut of emotions that ran through the boy’s face upon seeing his photo print is etched in Gautam’s memory forever.

Read about Gautam’s travels into places off the beaten track in Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East, in his book ‘pictureforapicture’. He has put together a kaleidoscope of portraits of people from different walks of life and written about his experience before and after taking each shot.

‘Picureforapicture’ is available on Amazon and Kindle and is published by Notion Press. Gautam’s Instagram handle is @hobograph and his social media is managed by Groundwork.

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• Gautam Kulkarni
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