Sold His Cycle To Buy A Camera, Now Nikon's Youngest Influencer | Ayush Singh
About this episode
He had no phone, no money, and no plan. He sold his bicycle and his phone to scrape together enough for a second-hand camera. He was 19 when Nikon said yes.
In this episode of Chaos To Clarity, Piyush Thacker sits down with Ayush Singh, wildlife photographer and digital creator from Medininagar, Palamu, Jharkhand. Ayush grew up 25 km from Betla National Park without knowing it existed. A borrowed Nikon D3300 from a school friend changed everything. He saved up, sold what he had, got cheated on a second-hand deal, tried again, and eventually made his way to MIT WPU School of Photography in Pune, where he was rejected the first time, came back a year later, and got in. By 19 he was one of Nikon's youngest influencers in India. A single reel on a rose-ringed parakeet, shot 17 km from home, crossed 75 million views. He has now photographed across 12 to 13 national parks, including Panna, Jim Corbett, Sundarbans, Kaziranga, and Ranthambore, and has recorded between 150 and 200 bird species.
This conversation covers everything from how he thinks about patience in the field (10 days for a single shot at Betla) to the exact Instagram strategy he used to grow, why he shoots in manual mode with auto ISO, how he pre-visualizes flight shots before the bird even moves, and why chasing rare animals is the wrong goal in wildlife photography.
A rare episode about slowing down, waiting, and trusting the process.
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Ayush Singh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildlife.ayush?igsh=NGszOTFtM2Rlc2l5 Ayush Singh email: Wildlifeayush@gmail.com Piyush Thacker on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/piyushthacker/ Thinkonic: https://thinkonic.com
Book references mentioned by Piyush: "Mammals of India" and "Birds of India" (links to be added in description)
Mammals of India : https://amzn.in/d/0iRyUKnn
Birds of India : https://amzn.in/d/0gbcFFUu
🎙️ Chaos To Clarity, an Indian podcast exploring small enterprise journeys, real founder stories, and the messy road from chaos to clarity.
📅 New episodes every Thursday, 7 PM IST
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