'Photography is all about right lighting'

Years of hard work, experiments and trials helped has people in capturing moments to preserve for the rest of their lives. With various technical advancements in the field of photography, creative people have been able to gift the world with their outstanding work. One such creative photographer and an Indian Book of Record holder fought all odds and started a new genre of photography in India. Varun Tyagi, 24, is the country's leading fitness photographer operating in the Capital.

Varun does not shoot in a studio, rather in a real gym to capture the ambience with a basic DSLR camera. He believes that one does not need a very expensive camera to shoot good photographs. "You don't need them until you are covering a large frame. It's all about knowledge and lighting, if your concepts are clear, you can run with a basic DSLR." He feels photography is not just about the camera, a very important factor is marketing, one must be able to sell his/her work.

Varun's quest started after he failed to graduate 12th standard the first time. He finished his schooling from the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and got admitted to Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies (VIPS) affiliated to IP University, to pursue an undergraduate course in Mass Communication where he came across Photography. As a student he started shooting in discos and clubs earning Rs 200-500 for four-five hours.

"Even though people appreciated my clicks, I wanted to do something different with Photography. To pursue higher study I applied at Jamia Millia Islamia and got through, but after a couple of classes I, myself dropped the course as I could see no future in it. Their syllabus was theory oriented and seemed to be lagging behind. Several people questioned my decision on leaving Jamia and I felt aimless," recalls Varun.

After a gap of several months he initiated the trend of Fitness Photography in 2015, a genre that cannot be found in books. What motivated him to start up a new genre? Studying online and following western photographers, Varun discovered the form.

Says Varun, "I am passionate about two things – photography and fitness. Being a fitness freak, I wanted to know if I could combine both my passions together to form a career. I googled 'Who's the best fitness photographer in India' and I wasn't able to find a single one, who shoot only fitness photographs. Though there were some fashion photographers who sometimes click similar photographs, I saw a career opportunity there, but again people declined the idea saying that I could not make a living out of it since there weren't many fitness models in India, but I eventually went on to try it." Talking about how he started his career, Varun who had tried almost every known genre before setting foot into the unexplored genre says, "In 2014 a body builder (Mr Delhi, 2014) had come to me for a shoot, he came back again for another shoot and I started off with him. His circle liked my work and some came to me seeking similar shoots.

Through word of mouth and social media people came to know about Fitness Photography. Facebook and Instagram helped me a lot. I struggled till the beginning of 2016 since I could not charge much as a beginner and I was not getting enough shoots."

"I was picked by Fitline India, for whom I did a photoshoot of the five-times Mr India and Mr World and a social media celebrity, which got me a good hike. Then on, I earned recognition and started getting 4-5 shoots per month. It takes a lot of time, hard work and money for someone to build his/her body, and so they want to get clicked as soon as possible when they are in best form," explains Varun.

After Tarun Gill, fitness YouTuber interviewed him, Varun started getting shoot requests from all over India. He had also done the shoot for an entire magazine, which was recently launched by Tarun Gill. "We had planned to shoot those fitness models, who could not afford to get a photoshoot done, for free. With an expectation of 7-8 models turning up we proceeded with the idea but to our surprise 61 models turned up at the event!" said Varun.

The young photographer did the unimaginable job of shooting 61 models in 2 hours and 34 minutes entering in the RHR Indian records! Varun also holds a record for making the shortest film without any human character or voice.

Fighting off every naysayer and setting up a new trend, Varun has set a clear example of how determination and hard work pays off. His story also points out to the important role social media plays in our lives now and how the correct use of internet can get one to actually live his/her dream.