Hi, I'm Sudesh Malik and photography is my passion...

When it comes to photography, I have all those things. But I’ve found that pursuing passion is not that easy. You’d think there would be nothing easier in life than doing what you have enthusiasm for, right? After all, photography is what I love! But I’ve come upon two difficult questions I’ve had to answer to truly follow my passion. What You Like vs. What You Love The first is a tricky one: Do I really know what my passions are? My gut response is yes, of course I know what I love. But I’ve found that when I actually try to define my passions, it becomes less clear, mostly due to the second question. The second question is this: Do I know the difference between the things I like and things I love? Sure, I like to take all kinds of pictures. I’ve enjoyed photographing a wide variety of things — weddings, architectural interiors, school portraits, still life, landscapes, events and the list goes on. I like them all. But I’m not passionate about them all. In recent weeks, I’ve been working to define what I love most about images and making them. This has been a challenge. I ask myself what I love, and what I really love? What am I drawn to for its own sake, without considering what I think its market appeal is? This is not about finding the kind of work that will make me the most money. Forget what sells best, or what the big-shot photographers are doing. What kind of imagery has the most draw for me?

Being in the Moment

The pursuit of passion is satisfying and rewarding in the present moment; a passion cannot be solely about the future. I think it’s possible to be passionate about reaching a goal, but if you find that the process getting there is not pleasurable, then I think it’s time to reconsider what you’re doing. The best way I can explain this is a surfing analogy. For about 10 years I’ve had a vague goal of becoming a skilled surfer. But the first wave I caught was just as fun as the wave I caught yesterday, and frankly, if I ever reach this goal of being “skilled,” I don’t expect that I’ll enjoy surfing any more than I did a decade ago. That’s because my passion for surfing is not confined to my goal; my passion is for surfing period. The process, the means toward the goal, is satisfying and rewarding in the present moment. There is much more that could be said on this topic, but let me end with an example of real passion — kayak surfer Randy Keller. In the image below, Randy is trying to take his frozen hand out of a frozen glove after a surfing session during a winter storm. Notice the ice covering everything, including the one remaining lens in his glasses.;