Making messes helps resident pursue photography

Amar Rameshbabu likes to make a lot of messes, but lucky for him, his wife is tolerant of his experiments.

The results of his experiments are on exhibit at Omega Photo in Bellevue through May 31.

Amar was born in Chennai, India (formerly Madras). He became a resident of Redmond after postgraduate work led him to work as a programmer analyst in software development.

His first job required traveling frequently so he bought his first camera in 2004 to record his travels and began taking pictures. He was the first person to own a camera in his family.

In the last couple years he really began to explore his passion for photography and in doing so learned a lesson not often taught in the culture he grew up in.

Growing up in India children are encouraged to always get it right, not make mistakes, and to get good grades to become a doctor, lawyer or engineer.

“Parents are more worried about their children making a living and kill the creativity,” Rameshbabu said.

He approached each photo shot with the attitude that it must be different from what he has seen before or that it has to be done in a different way. Because of this attitude, it led to many experiments and many failures. Having a camera became permission to explore and create in a way that he had never done before.

What he did not realize as he embarked on learning about photography is how it would affect his thinking. Rameshbabu has learned from his experiments that you don’t have to have fear failure. This has carried over into his everyday life. Photography has taught him to look and see things differently, and take a different perspective. He says that his flexibility came from having to make many mistakes in order to get to the picture he wanted to create.

Omega Photo is located at 1100 Bellevue Way NE. The store is open from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

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