Thankfully since the ‘Daguerreotype’ was gifted to the world in 1837 by the inventor Louis Jacques Daguerre without copyrights, ‘Photography’ came into existence. The origin of World Photography Day dates back to this era of the Daguerreotype which became the first commercially successful photographic process in the history of photography. It’s a unique image on a silvered copper plate with a mirror-like surface.
In remembrance of the worldwide celebrations of the World Photography Day which fell on August 19, 2019, a bit of a chalk talk with a big name in the field of photography would be inspirational for all photographers and photo enthusiasts out there.
Among the myriad of the adroit and gifted photographers, for most of them, the insatiable appetite of shot hunting being the reason behind why they are where they are today, history-making Anushka Eranga from Sri Lanka is just enjoying his international outreach of his art, his success, his passion-paved-path - Photography. Anushka was based in Dubai earlier for many years and is noted for producing preeminent landscape, travel and portrait photography in both local and international platforms. He is the brand manager of CameraLK and is a professional photographer. “It’s been 8 years since I plunged into photography. My first camera was a gift. With time I wanted to make the best use of it, to step outside and look for the perfect shots” he said. After a couple of years he had figured out that ‘Landscapes’ and ‘Portraits’ are his thing. ‘Wildlife Photography’ too had been one of his passions, but since it requires a high budget, Anushka has looked into what can be done by the basic lens he had then. “And that has always been landscapes and portraits” he added. Over the years, since flying to Dubai in 2010 aspiring for a Network Technician post, he is gradually promoted as an Office Assistant after one and a half years, and buys a new camera and finds time to lose himself in his ardor.
Anushka had arranged a little rendezvous called Insta Meet-up in Galle on August 18 to mark World Photography Day along with a bunch of photo enthusiasts and shutterbugs. “In Sri Lanka, the photographers are not collaboratively active. So there is this special day and I wanted to remind them the worth of sharing their potentials.This meet-up is like a pilot project and I hope we can do something interesting and remarkable next year” he said. The idea of this small occasion was to give an idea about how we should use Instagram depending on our purpose, how to make the posts reach far, about maintaining personal profiles, pages and managing businesses on Instagram.
Anushka is a Brand Ambassador of Sony Alpha in Sri Lanka and also affiliated with SIRUI and Skylum softwares. Expressing his thoughts on being a top fan of Sony, he said that he switched to Sony two or three years ago only after using several other high-end cameras.
Anushka had started photography in a professional level at the age of 24 and since then he has been blessed with many one-of-a-kind chances. “I have many friends from most of the countries in the world, and connections with many cultures and nationalities. So, when I visit a country, there are at least 10 people I know” he added. Anushka is based in Sri Lanka now. If he gets any invitations for shoots, he will fly to Dubai “Also to attend photography workshops I fly to Singapore and Indonesia’ he said.
Anushka would like to request anyone who aspires to become a photographer within his/her own scope, to not start up with the intention of making money within a short period. Anushka has sold his very first image three years back, and got a good value, more than 500 Euros. His works are published in many platforms such as, Daily Mail, Yahoo, National Geographic Times UK and Fstoppers.
“We have to commit a lot and wait up for it to bring the best out of us” he said. He asked photographers not to depend on a particular brand, instead to flow with the latest technology.
On this particular day reserved to celebrate photography and photographers around the world, Anushka wanted to make it a live experience to go photo hunting and have little discussions on them with the ones who were keyed up to pursue photography as a hobby or a career. This meet-up was just another effort to remind us of the significance of communicating the softest sentiments through the art of photography and we can hopefully look forward for more occasions like that in the future.