It’s always Important to know the team you are working with and who will be escorting you on your photography trips and do they actually meet your expectations? So, meet Harsh and Arti. Our Founders and dynamic travel duo. Harsh and Arti are not only partners in business but also in real life as well. They put their heart and soul in planning every single itinerary to ensure that the standards they have laid over the time remain in place for every Journey. Their Journey are endless and they keep wandering around on scouting trips, exploring new possibilities and bringing local and authentic experience which no other guide books can deliver. There by with their efforts, they are pioneering in photography tours of India.
Harsh is a professional photographer and photography guide. Indian Maharaja Tours was a brainchild of Harsh which he thought in 2006. Photography Tours In India is a unit of Indian Maharaja Tours founded by the same founders but with a purpose to promote photography tours. Harsh and Arti both were born in Hindu families in Agra, India. However, they wouldn’t meet until much later on.
- Harsh was pursuing his accountancy when he realized that he is not born to be confined in 4 walls, he is a free bird. That’s how his Guiding/Escorting career started.
- The only person in his family to do anything regarding tourism, photography was the hobby which first ushered Harsh into this field.
- Starting off, his work was highly appreciated by everyone and some of his photographs were also put up in various local exhibitions. Over time he honed himself into a self-taught professional travel photographer.
- His biggest break came was when the State Tourism magazine published one of his pictures. After that, his work started appearing quite often on State Govt. websites, Newspapers, Magazines etc.
- His interest shifted further more towards Photography once he got the chance to be a part of the Photography Club of Agra (PCA) where he conducted workshops on photography and editing.
- He Shifted his gear from Cultural to photography tour. And now he became one of the known Photography guide in Northern part of India.
- Successfully he is leading Photo tours for Holi (Barsana) for 3 consecutive years, Pushkar Camel fair for 7 years, Kumbh Mela 3 times, Nagore and Holla Mohalla 2 times, and Ladakh from last 3 years.
- Whereas Harsh chose the tourism industry much later in his life, Arti was in a way born into the tourism industry. Her father is among the senior most and finest Spanish speaking guides of Agra.
- This fascinated her and her brother. After getting her bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology Engineering, she did a 2-year Diploma course in Spanish Language at Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan and Instituto Hispania, New Delhi.
- Her biggest achievement was when she was offered a job as Spanish lecturer in the same college. But to pursue her masters she couldn’t accept this offer.
- Later she pursued Masters in Business Administration.
- She also participated in “Earn you while learn programme” by the Ministry of Tourism as a student volunteer for Commonwealth Games 2010.
They both got their certifications as official tour guides from the Ministry of Tourism. They were in the same batch of students. In 2012, they got married. Harsh has many interesting tales to narrate about this wedding shaped by the tourism industry, and of course, it includes hilarious stories about shopping experiences with his mother in law.
- This dynamic travel duo after working as Tour guide/escort for more than 5 years decided to give up their tour guiding life to start traveling.
- They travelled for more than 3 years in various Asian countries, including
- Two months backpacking trip to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand
- Two and a half months in the Southern regions of India covering the famous Backwaters in Kerala and more
- One month in various national parks of India
- One month backpacking trips in Rajasthan mostly near Jaisalmer and Jodhpur etc.
The Dream Begins
- Harsh has always been a photographer and Arti was his companion and assisted him in many of his shoots.
- Over time Arti also started enjoying travel photography and took to making travel videos.
- They both started enjoying their traveling life and decided to explore new places and help other willing travellers explore exotic destinations in the same passionate manner as they did.
- Soon they became an inspiration among their friends, but mainly because Harsh never hesitates to brag about their travel stories!
- So, travel which initially started as just fun and games had now started taking purpose.
The Inception of Indian Maharaja Tours and Photography Tours in India
Photography Tours in India was their brainchild. Harsh and Arti started planning scouting trips. This time they were more intense. For more than 2 months they travelled in Vietnam and Cambodia and explored new possibilities for photographers. In search of exciting packages, they experienced -
- 2 months biking in Ladakh, shooting starry milky way nights at temperatures below 10 degrees, which shows their passion for photography. They knew that staying in ancient monasteries would be the highlight of the Ladakh tour.
- 10 days with gypsies in Pushkar is still their longest stay at one place.
- Their passion to explore and bring something new took them to Tiger reserves of north and Madhya Pradesh. For 15 days they travelled across Ranthambore, Bandhavgarh, Kanha, tadoba and Pench Tiger Reserves.
- As a part of their Scouting trip, they spent about a month in Srilanka for wildlife and workshops with elephants.
- 1 month in North East part of India including Nagaland, Assam, Sikkim, etc covering the local festivals like Aoling and Moping. Apart from this, they also spent time in the local villages, photographing the local tribes.
- 2 months of Road trip in Rajasthan and Gujrat in search of local tribes and horses added more to their adventure.
Fun Facts
Being in the same profession, they also share a similar passion. They are both certified Yoga Instructors, Professional Photographers, Govt. approved tour guides and dog lovers.
IMT Merchandise
- All the Itineraries up for sale are 100% handcrafted from 1st hand experience from their own journeys and scouting trips.
- Everything is personally looked after by this travelling duo. They are perfectionists, so there’s no room for flaws.
- They get very good support from the team of professionals in every city. Being in this industry for more than 10 years, they know the exploitation of guides and drivers by big fishes. That’s why they always try to take very good care of their drivers and guides.
Our Other Products
Over the time, our founders Harsh & Arti have created sub units of IMT. These sub units are specialised in their own zonal like wildlife, tribal or architecture tours. Here is list of other units-
www.photographytoursinindia.com www.tajmahalphotographytours.com www.wildlifephotographytourindia.com www.tribaltourindia.com
- Nikon D810
- Nikon D850
- Nikon D750
- 1 Sony @6300
- Drone Mavick Air
- Tokina- 16-28/2.8 mm
- Nikon- 24-120
- Nikon 50 mm 1.8
- Nikon 85 mm 1.8
- Nikon 70-200 mm 2.8 mm
- Nikon 200-500 mm
- Great value for money
- Quality travel experience
- Excellent customer support
