“I am Kavali Chandrakanth, and for the past nine years, my life has been a journey of documenting the soul of Telangana. My story began in the government school of Peddamunagalachedu in Addakal Mandal, where my teachers taught me to look at the world with curiosity and to see beyond the pages of our textbooks. I remember spending hours reading Discovery magazine in our school library, mesmerized by pictures that told stories of distant lands and ancient wonders. Though I eventually moved to Hyderabad to pursue my B.Tech in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and spent years working as an electrical engineer, that early love for visual storytelling never left me. Today, I have transitioned into a role as a PMU Consultant with Telangana Tourism, where my professional expertise finally meets my passion for the land I love.

My photography has always been a tool for service rather than just an art form. When I saw the dilapidated state of my childhood school, I used my camera to document the ruins and reached out to local leaders to show them what was at stake. Through the support of Addakal ZPTC Nallamaddi Raja Shekar Reddy Garu, we were able to build a new ₹35-lakh school building for the next generation. At the inauguration, I hosted my first exhibition, Pragathi Pathamlo Peddamunagalachedu, marking the beginning of my mission to use images to bring change and digital visibility to rural communities.

Since then, I have committed myself to making sure no corner of our state remains forgotten in the physical or digital world. Using only my smartphone—never a DSLR—I have geo-tagged all 14 villages in Addakal Mandal and contributed 25,857 photos and 4,500 videos to Google Maps. Crossing 500 million views and marking nearly 300 new locations is more than just a digital achievement; it is about ensuring that a traveler, a student, or a historian can find their way to a medieval rock art site or a forgotten heritage temple. As a member of Kotha Telangana Charitra Brundam and a contributor to Telugu Wikipedia, I see every upload as a way to preserve our culture for the future.

This lifelong pursuit has culminated in Mapography, a concept where the precision of mapping meets the emotion of photography to tell the story behind every frame. From exhibiting at the State Art Gallery and the State Archaeological Museum to participating in the Hyderabad Literature Festival, I strive to make the history and heritage of Telangana accessible to everyone. Whether I am documenting the grand Khairatabad Ganesh or a small, ancient shrine in a remote village, I continue to photograph with one firm belief: that every place deserves to be seen, and every history deserves to be remembered.”