From rag-picking to photography, Vicky Roy to share his experience with Thaneites on May 9

‘Where there is a will, there is a way’, fits so well for 27-year-old Vicky Roy, now a well-known photographer and author of ‘Home Street Home’.

Vicky ran away from his home in Puruliya, West Bengal, in 1999, while he was only 11.

Speaking with iamin, he recalls his old days, “I come from a very poor family. We were seven siblings – four brothers and three sisters. I stayed with my grandparents. They used to beat me for petty things and that was the reason I escaped home.”

Rag picking in Delhi
After leaving home, Vicky reached Delhi’s Ajmeri Gate in Chandni Chowk and worked as a rag-picker for five to six months. Then landed with a job of dishwashing at a street restaurant in Ajmeri Gate which ultimately became the turning point for Vicky.

Life changed for Vicky forever
“A customer at the restaurant approached me and told me that it was my learning age and not earning age. He was from Salaam Balak trust which was founded after Meera Nair’s film ‘Salaam Bombay’.

In 2000, I got admission to Class VI and I made it till Class X by securing a mere 48 per cent. Looking at my slow progress, my professor told me to pursue something else. Thanks to my stars, one photography workshop was organised in the trust, wherein one of my friends had participated. He got an opportunity to go to Indonesia. I then decided to pursue photography, so that I could go to different places,” says Vicky, laughing.

Beginning as a photographer
Vicky talked to his professor about his interest in photography and in 2004, he was introduced to photographer Dicksy Benjamin, with whom he worked as an assistant. But he could not understand the instructions given by Dicksy in English, so Vicky met Delhi-based photographer Anay Maan, who readily agreed to teach him.

“I was given Rs 3,000 as monthly stipend along with a mobile phone and a bike. Up to the age of 18, I stayed at Salaam Balak trust and later started staying in a rented flat after Anay began to give me the stipend amount. During the same time, I had taken a loan from Salaam Balak trust to buy a B/W Nikon camera. I used to pay Rs 500 as instlalment and Rs 2,500 as rent. Whenever the money wasn’t enough, I worked at high-end hotels as a waiter and got Rs 250 per day," he says. Vicky repaid the loan by 2007.

Rag-picker turned photographer
In 2007, 20-year-old Vicky showcased his first photography exhibition titled ‘Street Dreams’ at India Habitat centre which was a huge success as it went to London, Vietnam and South Africa.

This was just the beginning for Vicky, who was then nominated by Ramchandranath foundation for Maybach foundation which took Vicky along with three other photographers from across the world to New York in 2008. “At the beginning of 2009, when I was in New York, I worked on the reconstruction of WTC for six months and simultaneously, I studied documentary photography for six months at International centre for photography.”

After returning to India, Vicky was conferred with International Award for Young people by Salaam Balak trust.

Awards galore
In 2010, Vicky was conferred with the tag of a young achiever from India by the Bahrain Indian ladies association. In 2011, Vicky and his friend Chandan Gomes started a photography library for which they approached established photographers and requested them to donate their books, so that youngsters who could not afford to buy costly books would benefit.

“We have 500 such books now and whenever we conduct photography workshops, we carry these books. Our upcoming photography library workshop will take place in Chitkool in Himachal Pradesh from June 5 to 12. We do it to encourage photography than to earn money,” he said.

In 2013, Vicky was chosen for the Nat Geo mission cover shoot along with eight other photographers who were taken to Sri Lanka. In the same year, he wrote his first book, ‘Home Street Home’ about photography, published by Nazar Foundation and was released at the second edition of the Delhi Photo Festival in 2013. He also got a fellowship to learn from Boston MIT and Inktalk in 2014 for a month.

Vicky along with his brother look after their family after his father passed away some years ago. Vicky now works as a freelance photographer and is visiting Thane city to share his inspiring experience with people at an event organised by TMC on May 9. 

‘No shortcut to success’
“I believe in hard work and I strongly feel that there is no shortcut to success. If you want to achieve your dreams, you have to be focused. Running away from hurdles will not make you successful,” says the rag-picker turned ace photographer.

For the longer version of the report, click here