Rajan Singh – popularly known as Raj – was born on March 5th, 1997 to Rajah and Lily Fe Singh. Raj was born in Quezon City, Philippines and moved to San Luis Obispo, California at the age of nine. Raj is the youngest of three children; he has two sisters – twenty-year-old Tamara and twenty-two-year-old Jasmine.
A sophomore here at Cal Lu, Raj is currently majoring in History. He decided to come to Cal Lutheran because he felt a good vibe when he first visited, it felt special here when compared with other schools. He felt “comfortable and safe” at CLU. Despite his major in History and the fact that he would like to be a History professor when he gets older, Raj has a deep passion for photography.
Raj first realized he was really into photography when he was going into his senior year of high school. During this time in his life, he got hurt frequently and was not able to do many sports – mainly baseball and basketball. He couldn’t just sit around and do nothing all the time, so one day he picked up his sister’s Nikon D40, went out to the bay (he lived by the sea), and started taking pictures. He liked them, and when he showed his family later on, they all agreed that they were quite good. After that, he started taking pictures every day during the first two months of his senior year at high school. He then realized that he wanted this as a hobby for the future, a sort of side job that he could do when he’s not teaching a class.
Since this time in his life, Raj has started taking pictures at events and he absolutely loves it! For him, it’s a completely different experience at every shoot, the people are different, the pictures are different, and he just can’t get enough of it!
Coming into his freshman year of college, his passion for photography pushed him even more. There was a different vibe with people and it was a new city, he wanted to use photography to meet people. This then led him to start the Humans Gallery Project, which you can see a little bit more of by searching ‘rajanshumansgallery’ on Instagram. This project is not only for his photography, but also a place for people to share stories, personal experiences, or even advice. It’s a place where people can feel safe and heard while sharing whatever they wish to the public. Raj is proud of this because it shows him how far he’s come since he first picked up that Nikon D40. People have even come to ask him to take pictures for things that range from engagement photos to pageants. To Raj, photography is starting to look more like a career than just a hobby – it makes him very happy.
Apart from being a great photographer, Raj has so much more to him, he’s loved baseball since he was about three years old, and has great advice to give. Here’s something he has to tell all of you:
“Stay humble yet passionate, be truthful and firm, do what you enjoy, smile when you can, laugh all the time, and enjoy life.”
-Rajan Singh.
All the photos in this article were taken by Raj