Left a luxury hotel job to become a landscape photographer

Let me share a true story about my pursuit of hotel management, leaving a good luxury hotel job, to become a landscape photographer.

You can laugh at me when I tell you that in mid-2020, during the peak of the Covid pandemic when everyone was sitting at home, I told my family that I wanted to become a landscape photographer. They were confused and happy at the same time, finally seeing me choose a courier path. But there's more to the story than just a sudden decision. I was surprised how sometimes even without knowing your past adventure can take place in your future.

Before I dive into the story, let me introduce myself. My name is Devesh Suhalka, and I live in India. By the age of 15, I had already travelled to more than half of my country, thanks to my grandfather. I wish I had realized my passion for photography earlier.

In November 2016, I went on my first school trip to Darjeeling and Gangtok. My hometown and school were in Udaipur, Rajasthan. The trip lasted 7 days and 6 nights. I was fully prepared with my shoulder bag, which contained all my essentials like sunglasses, wallet, some biscuits, instant soup, toothbrush, toothpaste, school ID, and a water bottle. I also had a trolley bag with clothes for 7 days: 5 T-shirts, 2 pants, 1 pyjama, 2 pairs of shoes, 2 winter jackets, and several pairs of socks. Most importantly, I had my camera in hand.

Throughout the trip, I was obsessed with capturing moments with my Nikon camera. From day 1 to 7, my memory card was filled with photographs, and my phone's memory was halfway occupied with tour photos. When I returned home with all the memories and shopping for my family, I was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed. After resting for two days, I removed the memory card from my camera and started transferring the files to a pen drive, eager to see the photos on my big-screen TV. It was the first time I was looking at my tour photos, and as I glanced through them, I successfully grabbed the attention of my family and a few friends from my neighbourhood. We all gathered to look at the photos, and I felt a sense of joy and accomplishment as my friends and family appreciated my photography. At that moment, I didn't realize the significance of this event in shaping my courier choice or recognizing my passion for photography.

A year later I completed school, and I was searching for universities to start my new studies, I was completely blank at that moment about what I should do, but when I asked people’s advice someone told me to become Chartered Accountant (CA) as I was from the commerce background but they didn’t know how my marks were in all the subjects if I would have told them they would have never said that. After taking a visit to so many universities with my parents my mom was the first one to get tired, after each visit to the university my parents with no doubt said “This field requires studying him” as they were quite sure I was not going to. Making a collective effort, my mother reached out to my school principal for advice. He knew about my academic performance and my family background, as my father was in the resort business. Based on this knowledge, he advised my mother to get me enrolled in a hotel management course. The very next day, I found myself at a college in my town for an interview, and luckily, I got selected. It was clear that I would be pursuing hotel management. To this day, I don't blame anyone for choosing a career path for me. At times, I used to, but I later realized that I was the one who made the initial choice for my courie. No one forced me to enter the hotel management course.

I started my college life in early 2019, soon after six months of college I was lost, deep within myself I knew I was not meant for this, neither I liked cooking infect I was terrible at it and in other subjects it was the same as my school results hardly getting a pass, In early 2020 pandemic got hit, it wasn’t good to see how people were suffering, everyone from employees to business person sitting at home, saw world economy collapsing, yes I was afraid of Covid but at the same time I am grateful that I got time to think about myself more and more it was for sure that I didn’t want to continue my future days in hotel line

During the first few weeks of the pandemic, I explored ways to be more productive. After conducting some research and experimentation, I compiled a list of habits that successful people adopt to achieve their goals. The first item on my list was to read novels recommended by successful individuals. One particular book from the success library, "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari," brought a significant shift in my perspective and provided clarity in my life. It helped me solve my biggest problem of finding my true passion.

well, most people will say there was way too much time to relax during the pandemic, but it didn’t turn out to be true for me, I was living my life’s most productive days, waking up early every day at the same time, going for a morning walk, reading books, meditating, maintaining my personal journal and the last but not the least reflecting which means monitoring my work and relaxing, I won’t lie to you when I say relaxing which means to me spending more time in solitude and deep thinking about the problems that I still hadn’t solved, I never say to expect the answer the same time or day, it comes with time, some things take time, but I knew that consistent practice would eventually yield results. While relaxing, I also indulged in watching my favourite movies and spent quality time with my family.

After following this routine for months, I felt happier and more joyful. However, the sense of fear started creeping back. I knew that at any moment, I could receive a call from my job asking me to return to hotel services. Things were settling down, and life was returning to normal. Yet, I still had no idea what my true passion was. well, one day I was on the last part of my list reflecting and relaxing while reflecting it is my favourite exercise to take an evening walk on my terris and self-talking my nabours may find me, idiot, for that part but anyway for the moment I try to be in present and allowing my thoughts to pass my mind while standing on my terris that day I suddenly asked myself “When last I had my best time”, “when was the last most beautiful day I never want to forget” and “what did I really like doing” after standing two minutes in still with a blank mind, thoughts of my school trip started flowing through in my head, it immediately made me happy but I asked myself what it has to do with my passion “is it travelling?” I was still confused, to clear my confusion I went back to my PC, opened my school trip folder after 2 years, and saw all the photos that I took, these photos were still holding feelings for me.

I knew I was close to finding my passion but I still felt that I was standing in the fog, I didn’t force myself to get the answer at the same moment, after seeing photos from my trip, I was down in the hall with my family at dinner, while having the dinner a sudden flashback came to mind, where my friends and family were appreciating my photography skills, I now knew I had no more questions about courier, now I was excited to for my upcoming journey, at that moment without sharing any thought to my family, I calmly finished my meal on the table and got back to my room, ready to embark on my newfound passion.

I wasn't in a rush to share my career aspirations with my family members, so for a few days, I searched online for landscape photographers who could inspire me. The first photographer who caught my attention and continues to inspire me to this day is Jimmy Chin. Once I felt confident in my decision to pursue landscape photography, it was finally time to share my passion with my family. About 15 days later, just as I had made up my mind, I received a call from the hotel asking me to join their company. Without a second thought, I politely declined the offer, knowing that my true calling lay in landscape photography. However, I still needed to earn a living, so I chose to work in the retail industry temporarily, all the while keeping my ultimate goal of becoming a landscape photographer in mind.