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After graduating in chemistry from the Delhi University in 1989, Prateek joined N.I.F.T as a fashion design student. There are two things which came naturally to him. Drawing and driving. So he was driven towards a creative profession. In 1991 he joined Suneet Varma as a design assistant. It was there he got interested in photography as a creative medium. It was Suneet who gifted him his first camera. A Nikon F3 with a 60mm micro lens. Soon a darkroom followed with a basic enlarger borrowed from a friend. He taught himself through various books, but mainly relying upon the Focal Encyclopedia of Photography. His background of chemistry helped him a lot as he soon started making his own variations of the D-76 and Microphen developers.
In 1996 he started his own label and business as a fashion designer. All along painting and photography kept calling him and he considered both mediums much more than a hobby. If art was a powerful tool of expression, photography was a way to see the world. Then he made a collection of paintings, oil on canvas and exhibited it at the Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, in May 2005. Finally he decided to wind up his business of eleven years to pursue his love of art and photography. He is currently working on his second collection of paintings.
He decided to go digital last year. It gives him greater freedom and more control. His subjects are as varied as the landscape, a junkyard and a middle class household. He prefers images with a sense of humor as an emotional connect. He is also exploring alternative emotional response for common objects. But it is the winds of change that India is experiencing which he find most exciting.
Prateek lives and works in Delhi.
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