KOCHI: Photography is a highly competitive field and to survive you have to take a high-stake risks and venture into something new and unique always. Be it still or movie camera, it is the innovative ideas and creativity that make one stand out in the crowd.
Meet Rinoy Sebastian from Kacheripadi who has dared to think different. For Rinoy it was a big leap in his career when he chose to use DJI Phantom version II, which can click pictures from air up to a distance of 500 metres from ground. Rinoy has captured stunning pictures with his camera up to a height of 200 metres, till date.
A phantom camera is a remote controlled camera with an integrated flight dynamic system and a transmitter through which the images are seen and shot. It has a built-in autopilot system and a GPS module enabling detecting satellites.
The 23-year- old Commerce graduate’s passion for photography began from his college days and he started off with ordinary cameras. “There is tough competition in the field of professional photography, be it still or movie. I realised that I have to think out-of-the-box to survive and succeed in my profession,” said Rinoy. “I found that Phantom camera is lesser known or little used which gave me the spark to venture with it,” he said.
A freelance professional, Rinoy has been moving around Kerala and Tamil Nadu in search of unique or unseen images with the use of his GoPro Hero 3+ black edition camera. He has shot commercials for many tourism destinations, Abad Whispering Palms, Kumarakom beach resort, Turtle beach resort to name some. Of late, Rinoy has also been associating with the film world and has done a title for the Malayalam movie ‘Utsaha Committee’ and is associating with Johny Antony’s ‘Bayya Bayya’.
Owning his own creative company, ‘Film It’, Rinoy is busy making a Video on Kochi - ‘Kochi Heights’ with exclusive and never-seen-before images of the city. “Every Kochiite must have seen the city in the normal way. But my video is on a different mode, which would showcase the cityscape in a totally different style and ambience,” said Rinoy who feels the coastal belt and backwaters of the city would give breathtaking images.
Rinoy had no formal training but learnt the art of shooting with the Phantom Camera from Google and You Tube. “I had several setbacks during my professional life. I lost my first Phantom camera for want of GPS support. However, thanks to the support of my mom Doncy Sebastian and my close friends, Devu Sainakumar, Prashob Mariadas, Darus D’Silva and Vinu George and my uncle Jilju Gladwin who had supported me like a father, I could regain my confidence and buy another set of a high-tech DJI Phantom Version II,” said Rinoy.
His passion for racing inspired him to buy a 2 feet long Baja 5B Buggi car which has a 23 CC stroke engine and weighs 20 kg. This Buggy car can be used for both racing and capturing pictures from a low angle.
“He lost his father when he was only a year old and hence I had never opposed to any of his desires including his choice of profession,” said his mother Doncy, a creative person who designs earrings, chains and the like.