India, Aug. 19 -- F or actor Randeep Hooda, photography has been a passion for years. He brought that love for the lens into his professional life with his 2024 directorial debut, Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, which recently earned him the National Film Award for Best Debut Film of a Director. On World Photography Day today, he reflects on how his experience with still photography shaped his approach to filmmaking. Randeep shares, "The compositions which I experimented with on my still camera helped me in framing the film shots, from bringing attention to a certain part of the frame to how to make an aesthetic frame," adding, "I am more comfortable behind a still camera than I am in front of it." The 49-year-old's journey into photography began simply, with a mobile phone camera. "Earlier, I used to go to jungles and enjoy the beauty. Then I bought a camera, but with so many buttons on it, I was discouraged from using it. So, I started experimenting from my balcony," he says. A turning point came when he connected with wildlife photographer Sarosh Lodhi. He shares, "We interacted on Instagram and he [Sarosh] said, 'Why don't you come to Nagpur? We'll go to Kanha National Park, I'll show you how to use it'.There, I saw my first tiger, Chota Munna, and I got great pictures in my first few outings, and I was hooked." From then on, he began documenting his wildlife trips, guided by the belief that "every frame has a story to tell". With the evolution of technology, Randeep observes how "photography has become more democratic": "It is no longer just for the privileged few. Everybody gets to capture what they like, but the value of a photograph has also diminished because they're available to everybody. The reverence of that one superbly framed shot has become less." These days, however, Randeep's primary focus behind the lens is much closer to home: his daughter Nyomica, born in March this year. "I photograph my baby almost every day. I click a lot of pictures of her with my parents, so that when she grows up and if they're not around, she can see how much they loved her," he concludes....