Snaps Kartikeya Thiyam Sundaram

I inched closer with silent footsteps, holding my breath… and Click! As the moment froze in my camera, the sparrows whizzed past and flew into the trees.

My tryst with photography began many years ago upon discovering the old 35mm Leica in Dad’s cupboard. I have pursued several interests in great depth - basketball, soccer, debating, writing, dancing, singing, playing the guitar, the piano, public speaking, dramatics - and I grew to enjoy quite a few, but nothing ever consumed me with as much intensity and passion as the art of photography.

Photos of people: of loved ones and even of strangers, have always been the most popular on my EyeEm profile, and most awarded too (EyeEm - a marriage between Shutterstock and LinkedIn for professional photographers). Some of the best photographs are also the most unexpected – while idly dozing on a train to Rishikesh, I was struck by the expression of a young boy in the seat ahead, staring wide-eyed at the huge expanse of the river Ganges. I pulled out my camera and photographed the innocent wonder and awe in his eyes for a sight he had never seen before, and that photograph won me my first international photography competition.

When I show people their photographs and they like them, it...