I am Joyel Pious, a photographer, bilingual editor and writer from Kerala, India. I have been exploring both digital and analogue formats of photography since 2009. A physics graduate from the University of Calicut, I worked in the banking sector for over five years before enrolling for postgraduation in communication and journalism at the University of Hyderabad. After the successful completion of the programme in 2015, I was employed as a copy editor by media organisations such as Deccan Chronicle and The New Indian Express. Besides, I received professional training as a photojournalist and worked on various assignments. At present, I am engaged as the news editor with Photomail, the online magazine of Ekalokam Trust for Photography (EtP), a south India-based non-profit engaged in visual arts
Hailing from a family with generations of farmers, I have always been fascinated with nature and its wonderful inhabitants. Often, I swim deep within myself to visit the earliest memories. They appear as a canvas full of dragonflies, rain-soaked grasslands and fishes swimming in sunlit ponds. Over the years, I developed an insatiable urge to understand the interwoven relationship between humans and nature. My father was fond of herding cows and goats while he was young, though he did several odd jobs later. Eventually, I moved to cities in search of a better livelihood, but many of those memories remain green even today. Idayaputhran is the Malayalam-language equivalent of 'shepherd's son'