Wishwas Sorte's extraordinary journey
Mr Wishwas Sorte, Pune's leading ace photographer today, is a very humble and simple person. He was born in a farmer's household in a small hamlet of about 50 houses called Sortewadi, in Baramati tahesil of Pune district. He had his scholastic education in a number of schools - starting from the temple school, to the village school, to the tahesil school. He was the first person in Sortewadi to pass the SSC Examination. Wishwas was attracted to drawing, but had no formal guidance in this field.

He enrolled in Pune's 'Applied Art College' Abhinavkala Mahavidhyalaya, for a course in Commercial Art. Photography was a subsidiary subject, but the college had no Professor for the subject. He did not even own a camera. He did his work with his friend's camera. His work was appreciated by some of the leading Art Directors of Pune's Advertising Agencies. In 1975 he got his first commercial assignment for Bajaj Auto Ltd, who even today have all their products photographed by Wishwas.

With help of friends from the advertising field, Wishwas has come a long way - from borrowing a friend's camera to being the only one in Pune to own a Sinar C2 with 'Copel Shutter' camera. In 1980 came one of his most challenging assignments: to make a 12ft. x 25ft. enlargement from a 120mm format. This is the largest enlargement done by anyone in Pune.

Today, Wishwas has about 5000 stock photographs in his plush, well-equipped studio of about 1200 square feet. This studio also has Pune's only 'chrome screen' facility for tele-news, tele-shows, tele-chat shows, etc. Besides photography, Wishwas loves trekking, which he took up in 1982. He has been to the Everest base and Kanchanjunga, among others.

He also loves to collect antiques, which adorn his studio showcase, alongside his various awards and trophies.

From being raised in a farmer's house near Baramati to being the leading and highest paid photographer in Pune, Wishwas has indeed had an extraordinary journey!

Address: Wishwas Sorte, 46, Satyam Estate,
Off Karve Road, Behind CDSS, Pune 411 038,
Phone: 543 6812,
Fax: 546 5979

By: Sudheer Waje
Photographs by - Wishwas Sorte