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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. Marathi stage artists Mr. Prashant Damle and
Ms. Kavita Laad, inaugurated this  facility
on 9th Sept. 2000.Besides photography, Wishwas loves
trekking, which he took up in 1982. He has been
to the Everest base and Kanchanjungha, 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
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