“And then I thought, perhaps the Alchemist resides within yourself.”
This photo was clicked by me in the sand dunes of Sam village, Jaisalmer, on my first backpacking trip to Rajasthan.
I remember, panic was the first thing I felt in this moment because it was almost sunset, and hence almost dark, so the light was too less. I frantically turned on my iPhone 6 camera and the first thing idea I got was to lower the exposure further! Call it an amateur’s attempt at photography without knowing anything about it.
The fascinating part about this picture is that it captures not just a moment in time, but a frame from my imagination — a frame that I had visualized in my head for years before actually taking this picture. It was from a painting I saw when I was ten years old.
What’s interesting to note is that this particular version—one of about 15 back-to-back clicks—was my very first shot in the sequence. As a photographer, it usually takes at least four or five shots at the minimum before you can get the frame and lighting to your satisfaction. But in this case, none of the subsequent shots could capture the essence of the scenery like the first one.
When I look at this picture, I see a large, expansive, empty desert with just a woman, her young child, and the Alchemist walking them on one of his camels.
It’s one of my favorite clicks of all time and holds a special place in my heart, knowing that there will never be another time in life like those 3 minutes that I spent lying flat on the sand clicking this picture.
