Born to Lakshmanan Nair and Thankam of Chemancheri near Kozhikode, he did his schooling at Poilkave High School. After the vocational higher secondary course in electronics at Koyilandy Govt. Boys VHSS, graduated in Mathematics. He has got prizes in several competitions in painting, cartoon and clay modelling during his student days.
As a born shutterbug, he took his first camera, a Yashica 120 at the age of 15 and learned the nuances of photography from his maternal uncles. Self- oriented in news photography, he freelanced for leading dailies in Kerala.
In 2002 joined the leading daily Malayala Manorama as a Staff Photographer. Now he is working as Chief Photographer at Malayala Manorama Thiruvananthapuram unit. His younger brother, Manish Chemancheri also is a photographer, working with the Mathrubhumi Daily at Thrissur.