YPS Meet Live | September 27, Sun | 5:30 PM | YPS Facebook page

Travel and Landscape photography go hand in hand.  To Landscape, add Astro Photography with the glitter of  stars and the image turns exotic!  For a passionate photographer, nights are as fascinating as day, giving him an opportunity to capture the beauty on earth and of the sky!

Mr Umesh Gogna, a jeweller turned photographer has replaced his passion for the glitter of jewellery with the glitter of stars in the sky!  He is a photographer who will fascinate the viewer with his beautiful images of landscapes during the day and exotic astro images in the night.

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Mr Gogna comes from a family of jewelers.  After completing his post graduation, he started helping his father in their family business while also working on his Ph.D. thesis on ancient Indian jewelry. He needed good quality photographs of jewelry for his thesis. Good images were difficult to come by in those days and he could not afford to hire a professional photographer.  In order to get good images for his thesis, he decided to buy a camera and try photographing the jewelry himself.  He bought a second hand Pentax camera kit, thus starting his journey as a photographer.

After some disappointments, and a lot of hard work, he was able to get good images for his thesis. He also discovered that he liked photography and started spending more and more time with his camera. He upgraded his camera kit, brought studio lights and even set up a small studio in his house.  Soon people started asking him to photograph their jewelry and he was happy to oblige.  He also loved to travel to new destinations with his camera and take photographs. 

When he realized that he was devoting more time to photography than to family business, he decided to turn professional and devote all his time to photography.  It was a difficult decision as he was essentially leaving a secure business for the uncharted waters of professional photography, but now after so many years he is glad that he made that choice. Photography has always been the main passion of his life and he feels especially lucky and blessed to be able to devote all his time to it. 

Most of his professional work is in the field of handicraft and jewelry, stone and the hospitality industry. Apart from his professional work he also does a lot of travel and nature photography. Over the years he has spent a lot of time documenting the cultural, architectural and natural heritage of Rajasthan and the Himalayas. The wilderness, the open spaces of the desert and the mountains attract and inspire him. His work has been published in several books on these subjects. 

He learned photography the hard way, through experimentation, trial and error, as there were no good institutes or teachers/mentors in Jaipur. After spending many years as a professional photographer, he felt that he should give back something to the profession of photography. One area where he felt he could contribute was by educating aspiring photographers about the science and art of photography. 

 He started helping young photographers by conducting workshops and also by personally mentoring them. It started as a small effort initially, but over the years, he has conducted more than 150 workshops. These workshops are on photography related subjects like Portraiture, Photographing Jewelry, Fashion Photography, Digital Photography, Digital Post Production amongst others. He also gives lectures in universities and colleges and mentors enthusiasts in many photography clubs. 

During the early days of his career he used to shoot on film. He used a 35mm camera kit, a 645 camera kit and a 4×5 camera kit. He likes to stay at the cutting edge of technology and by nature, an early adopter of technology.  He was one of the first to shift to digital cameras because he could see the immense advantages offered by them. 

He shoots in the studio as well as in the field and therefore  needs a very flexible and responsive system. He is also very particular about the quality of the images he creates. For him only the best will do. 

Initially he was a bit apprehensive about using a mirrorless camera, but  soon realized the design advantages that a mirrorless system offers over a traditional DSLR and shifted to a mirrorless system. The Sony A7RM2, with 42.4 megapixels is his camera of choice. The A7RM2 gives  great performance with matchless image quality in a small, well designed, package. With its 399 focusing points with on-sensor phase detection autofocus system, the A7RM2 focuses almost instantly, even in very low light conditions. The BSI sensor gives industry leading high ISO performance, making photographs possible even in very low light conditions. The BSI sensor also ensures that the images have industry leading dynamic range. He also has the Sony A7S. He likes to use it for time lapse and night astrophotography because of its industry leading high ISO performance. 

A sensor is only as good as the lenses that it is coupled with. Sony and Zeiss offer a world beating range of lenses. In addition, adapters are available for almost all makes of lenses. His lens kit consists of the FE 16-35 f4.0, FE 35 f1.4, FE 24-70mm f4.0, FE 70-200mm f4.0 G and the FE90mm f2.8 Micro. 

Professional journey
Umesh Gogna started his journey as a freelance photographer in 1998. He has photographed many commercial & tourism assignments for his clients and Government departments. Travel, landscape & nature photography are his foremost passions. 

He has conducted more than 250 workshops on photography. Having conducted workshops for Canon India as a mentor for seven years (2008-2014), Mr. Gogna is currently a brand ambassador and mentor for Sony Alpha. Nowadays, his photography expeditions and master classes are very popular.

He has spent a lot of time in documenting the cultural & architectural heritage of Rajasthan and the Himalayas. His work on these subjects has been published in several books. His works on Rajasthan’s royalty, fairs, festivals & colors are framed in the coffee table books of Pali, Jalore & Jhalawar.

 Several other books are lined up to be published.

Awards:

1. Founder Member and Mentor / Jury at Camarena Academy (FB)
2. Honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by Jaipur Photographer’s Club
3. Honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for contributing to education in photography by Jodhana Photojournalist Society
4. Honoured by Governor of Rajasthan (Margaret Alva) for contributing to education in photography
5. Part of Jury for a number of photographer’s clubs, colleges and schools.
6. Conducted over 250 photography workshops PAN-India

Guest Faculty in Allahabad University (2008 to 2019), Central University of Bihar, BITS Pilani Photography Club and more.