Vicky Roy: A sufferer of abject poverty, and the one who was once forced to pick rags and serve as a waoter at the place where he now is widely known as an ace lifestyle and travel photographer.
So today you might be knowing him as an award-winning photographer but it was not the same for all his life.
The backdrop of the famous Vicky Roy has been tough. And as we mean it when we say tough!
Vicky’s story start when he ran away from his home at a tender age of 11. Born to an extremely poor family in the small district of Purulia in West Bengal, Vicky always felt undervalued and in the wrong place to set up his own stage of dreams.
After running away from his home, he eventually arrived at Delhi with big hopes to make his dreams come true.
He reached Delhi’s Ajmeri Gate in Chandni Chowk and literally worked as a rag-picker for five to six month to earn his basic income to survive in the metropolis.
Then as he felt, his income was not enough to sustain even his basic needs, he started working as a waiter at a footpath stall which surprisingly became the ultimate turning point for his life.
So it was just another sunny day when a customer at the restaurant walked in. He noticed the young lad doing his job and out of some curiosity convinced him to learn something instead of earning.
He also approached him to join a rehabilitation program offered by the Salaam Baalak Trust, an NGO which was founded after Meera Nair’s film ‘Salaam Bombay’.
So in 2000, Vicky got a direct admission in the underprivileged quota to the Class VI and successfully completed his Class X but with a mere 48 percent.
He later studied photography as the art of capturing life into polaroids captured his interest. In 2004 he was introduced to the ace photographer Dixie Benjamin, who at the time was shooting a documentary film.
Vicky then started working as his assistant and then he reached out to the Delhi-based photographer Anay Mann.
Years passed in training and nourishment of his skills. Finally, in 2007, he held his first solo show in India and in 2009, was chosen for a mentorship program by the US-based Maybach Foundation, wherein he photo-documented the reconstruction of the World Trade Center in New York, for six months.
His works have been a part of important international shows, including exhibitions at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, and the Fotomuseum, Switzerland.
Moreover, 25 of his photographs were selected by The India Habitat Gallery in New Delhi under the head title of ‘Street Dreams’ and is sponsored by the British High Commission itself!
Vicky’s prime USP is his polished approach on capturing the poor lives and helping those disadvantaged fellows by giving them a voice through his photography.
Today, the 27 years old Vicky is an accomplished and awarded photographer.
He indeed is a strong source of inspiration for millions of aspiring photographers and those who want to travel all the way to the top in the journey they call life.
