Hi! I’m Alekha Chugani,a freelance photographer. I love all forms of film photography,can watch cat memes all day,love making mental & visual mood boards. I used to believe that we live in a world where facing contradictions always led to concurrence and the only way to justify such experiences was acceptance & shedding tears out of confusion & anxiety. I stuck to the later before someone told me to try photography ‘cause I seemed to have a good eye for capturing things’. When in reality,I only gave it a shot ‘cause I learnt the VSCO aesthetic way before it became a trend,this was 2016. Whenever someone asked about my ambition, becoming a photographer wasn’t an answer. Yes,it is one of those clichéd journeys where before picking up a camera, I picked up various jobs in fashion because my ultimate goal was to work in a magazine. Eventually I did. My boss was stern,proficient & kind. Before I left the publication, I took her advice on pursuing photography ‘cause she believed I had scope. Thus, in Nov 2017,I decided to move forward to pursue fashion photography as my primary goal. I borrowed a basic Canon 1200D DSLR from my parents’ office & never looked back. Fast forward to 2020,I still use that camera. Since then,all of the important milestones that I have achieved are taken from that same camera & when I have a work shoot,I rent. Everything else is from the same gear. Which is not a lot & that’s okay! I told myself that it’s okay to not have a degree in photography just yet. Whatever I create speaks a lot about where I come from. Both my parents are artists & today it seems that my family has nurtured the art of being artistic; always creating & having a story to tell. I’d be lying if I said that the thought of upgrading my gear doesn’t tempt me or makes me feel inferior. I have to constantly remind myself that my work reflects my ability to create,not with what I create. Everything else is secondary,but our ideas are just that,ours! I insist that you invest as much time as needed in the initial stages of generating the core idea. A healthy dose of procrastination is both essential and crucial for us as artists. Self-brewed originality always trumps self-doubt. The key is getting attached to the idea of learning rather than becoming. The more I understood the depth of that statement the easier it got to navigate my path into this field. Being a freelancer is not easy,so to make it less daunting the first thing I did was create an invoice,made a signature logo/font/color,the fun stuff you know? The next step,writing down the terms and conditions;write a draft and have a lawyer look at one. Register yourself as a small business and finally,the holy grail of any freelance business,NETWORK. Everyone talks about consistency in posting content but the same rule applies in communication. Get to know your community. I cannot stress this enough. Most of us are brimming with ideas that may sound weird to people but to us it’s exceptional. Even an awkward encounter or a small talk is progress. Experienced it. Loved it. Still living through it. Each image unravels layers of meaning or just hits the right spot or sometimes we hit a wall with it all. I used to hate having an artists’ block,but I found myself creating images out of random things at home to push me out of it. The process made me understand why it’s important to draw a line between learning & getting influenced by what I see online. I insist you try it once. Reflect. I would like to conclude by sharing something I wrote down,“Look for stories that tickle you rather than chasing inspiration like it’s a golden ticket for great content and online validation. This world needs artists like you to amplify stories that become a part of our history.” Keep creating. A