Nik Pillai's passion engineers his future

PAKHOWAL ROAD: If it is true that ""where there is a will, there is a way"", then it may also be said that without a will, there would be no way, is true too. At least Neeraj Kumar Pillai, a budding photographer from Pakhowal Road in the city, believed so when he quit his civil engineering course after a year to pursue the dreams he saw through his lenses.
The 19-year-old followed his obsession with photography and enrolled in a bachelors course in multimedia, concentrating on imaging and photography.
Neeraj, son of Prema Chandran Pillai and Raj Anna Pillai, says, ""I developed a fascination with photography when I was in Class XII and learned to use a camera and other aspects of imaging, like photoshop and photo-processing from internet"".
Neeraj had then bought a Sony compact camera and used to click nature and historical structures. ""I clicked pictures of Golden Temple, Anandpur Sahib and other historical places. Clouds and sunset by the Sidhwan Canal are other favourite picture subjects for me,"" he says.
Neeraj could not concentrate on his civil engineering course after his Class XII as his mind was always into photography and image processing. a??After joining the multimedia course, I have started practicing fashion photography,a?? he adds.
Neeraj aka Nik Pillai, as he likes to be called, adds, ""I follow the work of all leading national and international photographers, but American photographer Mark Wallace is the best learning resource for me as I follow his online lectures too. I like filmmaker Philip Blooma's work as he is an expert in slow motion and time-lapse techniques. Among Indian photographers, I like Dabboo Ratnani and Prashant Samtani, whereas Harvarinder Singh in the city clicks some wonderful snaps"".
Talking about his plans in future, Neeraj says his ultimate dream is to work on a Bollywood film as director of photography.