Salim is that rare bird who came to photography by default, even necessity. He started off in publishing as his father, Kottayam Pushpanath, is a well known writer of detective stories and a publisher of travel books.

In 1995, Salim, only 27 then, took one of his travel books on Kerala to Mr.George Dominic - of the reputed Casino Group of hotels (CGH Earth), one of the pioneers of eco tourism in Kerala - for review. This encounter was the 'tipping point' that opened the portals of the enchanting world of photography for Salim. Mr.George Dominic told him quite honestly that the book was too 'text heavy' and needed to be relieved with good photographs if it was to appeal to tourists. This was an entirely new observation to Salim about tourism and tourist behavior. Coming from a veteran like George Dominic, Salim sensed there could be truth to this and set about trying to find worthy photographers of 'God's own country' whose visuals could grace his books. His search led him nowhere but to one conclusion: if he wanted good photographs for his books, then he had better do it himself! And thus started Salim's journey into the new but gripping world of picture taking. Though he had to learn on the job, an innate 'eye' to see the world in picture frames stood him in good stead and before long he began to gain a reputation as a fine tourism photographer whose pictures add value to many travel books and postcards on India, published by his own company. Today, Salim's travel publishing business is a well established one. It has a sizeable turnover and an enviable distribution network in Asia and the United Kingdom with no less than 16 titles and 1000 photographs to its credit.

Salim started out with a NIKON F90, which was his mainstay camera during his years of 'learning and experimenting'. He has always borne in mind Cartier Bresson's confession: “I am only a passionate amateur, but I am no dilettante”. Since 2006 Salim went totally ‘pro’, using a Hassalblad system with Leaf digital back. Visit www.dbventure.com to know more about Salim’s work and his pictures.