In The Hot Seat - Vir Nakai, An Inspiring Indian Motorcyclist And Photographer | Interview

In today's post, I am sharing the interview of Vir Nakai who is a full-time motorcyclist and travel blogger. Vir Nakai is also the founder of "Helmet Stories" which is an adventure travel company. This interview is a part of "In The HotSeat" series,

Interviewer: 1.Tell us about your education and profession?

Well I made it out of high school and into college by the skin of my teeth and did a BA in Psychology, Economics and English. Professionally now I run Adventure Motorcycle tours, create content on my motorcycles and just started cold brewing coffee in Chandigarh. 

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And today brings to a close to the First Season of Harley-Davidsons Passport to Freedom with me. So much fun catching up with @rajputanacustoms @olddelhimotorcycles @ochacko @candidalouis and @maralyazarloo to hear the stories behind the stories. Also Would love to hear what you guys though of season one ?

A post shared by Vir Nakai (@virnakai) on May 3, 2020 at 8:05am PDT

Interviewer: 2.  What are your key areas of photography street/weeding/lifestyle/commercial ?

 I have no key area in photography what interests me I shoot. What doesn’t I don’t it’s simple really. 

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The road back down from Lo may be the same one we took coming up but it feels totally different. We left early to see how far we could get and ended up making good time so that gave us enough time to stop and just hang out. #helmetstories #atimetoride #royalenfield #himalayan #royalenfieldhimalayan #nepal #mustangvalley #adv #advriders #adventurebike #adventure

A post shared by Vir Nakai (@virnakai) on May 31, 2020 at 11:18pm PDT

Interviewer: 3. How did you earn from this profession?

 I earn money lol. I provide the service when I run tours and people pay me for my time same way you would in any job. Time = Money

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Kagbeni the end of a fantastic day of motorcycling. Kagbeni is as large as the next few images show. So after a walk around we found a small tea shop that was open and ordered a few rounds of local raksi and just hung out marvelling at the day. Then we plodded back to our hotel under the famous Golden Arches(how can Y be an arch) of Kagbeni - Yak Donald’s for some Old Darbar on the rocks and a medium rare Yak Cheese Burger. #helmetstories #atimetoride #timetoride

A post shared by Vir Nakai (@virnakai) on Jun 6, 2020 at 4:33am PDT

Interviewer: 4. Which camera or phone you use for photography? Which app you use for editing pictures?

I use a multiple set up of cameras. Being a GoPro family member in India I use many many many GoPros and always am lucky to be stocked with the newest of cameras. I also carry my iPhone and my Sony A6300 all the time when out for an adventure. And where I can I have a drone as well for the Ariel perspectives. I edit on Lightroom on my phone mostly.

 

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Like I was saying the road up to Lo is just a playground for adventure. This section is just less than two kilometres from the one pictured in yesterday’s post. Just see where the road disappears. Even here you come down a steep slope into a right turn and you find your self here where you need to pick your line to make your way out with ease. Water flowing over these rocks would make this such an amazing water crossing.

A post shared by Vir Nakai (@virnakai) on May 19, 2020 at 10:57pm PDT

Interviewer: 5. Do you think one can make career in full time travel blogging ? Or can be a full time motorcyclist?

 Yea you can I mean gotta work hard at it but you could. 

Interviewer: 6.   How did you start with photography? What is the story behind choosing this profession?

I grew up in a family where there has always been a camera at hand to capture a moment. We have huge amounts of pictures and negatives that span my life. So a camera is something that all of us have at Least one(If not 3). Photography is not a profession it’s a bi- product of my travels and experiences.

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So following up on the last post. The ride was the first of many for a piece that ran in Autocar powered by Castrol (if I am not mistaken it ran 2 years). Castrol sent a cool biker jacket with branding that needed to be showcased in some pictures. So for the first issue this is the picture we took. I was really impressed by how it turned out. Also it was shot on film and maybe on the first Nikon SLR I had ever used. The whole trip was shot on two rolls of film.

A post shared by Vir Nakai (@virnakai) on Apr 3, 2020 at 7:13am PDT

Interviewer: 7.  What message or tips do you like to give to budding photo bloggers , motorcyclist and readers of this post?

 Keep riding, keep shooting and keep blogging. Do what you know and stop worrying about what other people are doing or know. Worry about your skill and the more you work at it good things will happen. But don’t live in a bubble look and see what people are doing all over the world because there are lots of cool people doing lots of cool shit.

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Today’s pictures of me carving up the road are from Praveer. From the first day of the Jawa ride as we made our way down from Khardung towards Nubra Valley. Unlike his dad Praveer’s photography and videography is all from his phone. (When of course it’s not ringing off the hook)

A post shared by Vir Nakai (@virnakai) on Sep 2, 2020 at 10:49pm PDT

Thanks, Vir Nakai Sir for contributing to the "In the HotSeat" series. I hope this series is helping you guys to move towards a creative career and if your answer is yes let me know in the comment section. Click here if you want to check out the old interview of this series.

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