"From Kolkata to the Cosmos: Anushtup Roy Choudhury’s Journey into Astrophotography"
Showcase is an effort by 58Miles to bring beautiful journeys of some of the amazing photographers of India & aboard . You will read about their journey , techniques , style and can see the outcome of their art in stunning frames. We asked them some questions to deep dive in to space and here we are....
Introducing 58Miles showcase photographer Anushtup Roy Choudhury from West Bengal
Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got started in photography?
My name is Anushtup Roy Choudhury, an avid traveller, especially a trekker from Kolkata, West Bengal, who loves to explore the virgin trails of the Himalayan Range. I started doing photography from an early age of 13, using a basic point and shoot camera. Although initially I did street photography only. My thirst for Astrophotography started during my first trek to Sandakphu, a popular trek of West Bengal. After seeing so many stars in the sky through my naked eyes, I ventured more and more toward the mountains just to click stars.
During my treks I do most of my types of photography, be it landscape, astro or recently added aerial/drone. And virgin trails often offer great cosmic spectacles at night, as the places I trek to are extremely far from any form of locality, which gives me a chance to focus on my Astrophotography, doing which is tricky from my home which sits in Bortle 9.
Solo Camping under the stars in Himachal Pradesh. And featured by Nat Geo Traveller India.
HDR Mineral Moon image, captured from my rooftop.
What inspires your photography, and how do you choose your subjects or themes?
I primarily focus on doing Astrophotography, i.e. photographing stars. So my main motivation to capture stars is the vastness of the space itself, and to archive the night sky, as in the wake of extreme light pollution, the stars are slowly fading away from our visual spectrum.
A star trail clicked during my Kedarkantha Trek in Uttarakhand and was nominated for APOD by NASA and got featured by NASA's official facebook page "Sky" and AAPOD2 website.
A deepsky shot clicked using my star tracker, during my Har Ki Dun trek, Uttarakhand and got featured as NASA's APOD.
What has been your most memorable photography project or shoot, or any inspiring story around it, and why?
One of my proudest moments was when one of my Astro shots got selected in an international magazine called "Amateur Astrophotography", that was my first time getting selected on any international platform. After that another of my image got featured by NASA's "APOD(Astronomy Picture of the Day)" instagram page's story, then one got shortlisted for APOD and was featured by NASA's "Sky" facebook page, 2 got selected in the website of "Amateur Astronomy Picture of the Day (AAPOD2)", another of my images got selected in "Astronomy Magazine" and an image of mine got selected and featured by Natgeo's instagram page "Natgeo Traveller India".
On another note, during one of my solo treks, I fell into a deep mountain trench and survived barely, so I can call that one of my proudest moments as well.
And last but not least, during last year, I had completed Everest Base Camp trek and shot some Astrophotographs, which was very challenging
Taken on the last night(Location Lobuche) before reaching the Everest Base Camp.
Clicked during my Astrophotography workshop in Ladakh, a milkyway Panorama. Got featured as Astronomy Photo of the Day by Astronomy Magazine.
What is your photography kit ? or we would say, what is in your camera bag?
I used to have Sony A7 Mark II as my primary camera. But recently I have upgraded it to Sony A7 C Mark II. Along with my camera, I use lenses such as Sony 50mm 1.8, Sony 28-70mm, Tamron 28-200mm Di III RXD, Samyang 14mm 2.8 MF. And a special equipment in my arsenal is Move Shoot Move Tracker with the Leofoto LS 285C Tripod and Digitek DTR 520 Tripod. 
Orion Nebula with world's second highest observatory, in our own country, HCT - Himalayan Chandra Telescope. 
Milkyway shot taken at Drang Drung Glacier, Zanskar.
What advice would you give to photographers who are just starting out and looking to make a name for themselves?
Although I have learnt Astrophotography on my own initially, here are some Youtube channels which can jumpstart a beginner's learning curve : Alyn Wallace, Peter Zelinka, Astrobackyard, Milkyway Mike, Chasing luminance and a fantastic book called "Photographing the Night Sky" by Alyn Wallce. A basic tip for the beginners will be to go outside, take some images, make mistakes and learn from it and try to start by doing Star trails as it's the easiest type of Astrophotography I feel and it can be easily done from light polluted cities also. 
Somethings about Anushtup Roy Choudhury : He is the co-founder of Light N Lens, a modern photographic community where he mentors in Astrophotography and conducts commercial photography workshops and tours. As part of Light N Lens, he and his team organize half-yearly offline photography exhibitions, where extraordinary talents from their respective fields, such as Sir Royce Bair and Sanak Roy Chowdhury, have served as judges in their respective genres. Anushtup also has a YouTube channel to document his travel experiences, named “Nomadic Spectacles.”
You can find Anushtup Roy Choudhury on :
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/nomadic_spectacles/
Facebook : facebook.com/anushtup.roychoudhury
