If photos speak a thousand words, your photos translate into full length productions! Tell us, how did you become a wildlife photographer?
I was an outdoor guy. During my school and college days I hated biology .I loved mathematics and physics. I selected statistics as the 4th subject in my 11th grade just to avoid biology. After completing school I started mountaineering and spent lot of time in climbing and outdoor activities. I bought my first camera in 1997 and started doing photography during my trekking and climbing trips. I photographed mountains, rivers, flowers along with images of climbing, this is how my love affair with nature started and I pursued my masters degree in Ecology and Environment inspite of my hatred of biology in the early days. We had a bit on wildlife in our masters syllabus and that was quite addictive for me.
I was keen to know more about wildlife and as a coincidence, I met a few wildlife enthusiast and bird watchers, who were doing conservation work. I started joining them for bird watching and started little bit of bird photography in the year 1988-1999.By the year 2000,I decided to make this my career. I had no idea about this field but I was so sure of myself that I left all my hobbies and all sources of earning, came out of my comfort zone to become a full-time photographer. My idea was, other activities could be a distraction that would keep me away from pursuing photography whole heartedly.
I was a serious climber, my goal was to scale peaks and to climb rocky spurs and walls, now the goal of life changed, wildlife photography became the driving force and climbing became a tool for photography.
Up to 2006 my income was almost nothing, it was a difficult time financially, my parents, sisters and friends are amazing and did everything possible for me. Looking back at that phase, it makes me believe that if you really want something whole heartedly, it becomes possible.
What is your biggest success or the one thing you are most proud of?
For me it is not about success or failure. There is nothing to be proud of, photography is not comparable.
A lot of objects are already photographed, so for getting the first time impact you need to go for newer objects. Often what we can do is, try to do things differently from what others have done. So whichever way, this makes each work unique, there are no good or bad photos, but only different ones. A newer photo can come any day which will please people more, so there is no point in feeling proud about one’s own work. People might start disliking my work any day. Hence I don’t feel happy about doing so called good work, but it makes me happy being in nature and getting inspired and surprised by nature.
When there is no existing photo of an object, the impact is more, but that does not necessarily make it a good picture.
Two photographers can never shoot the same picture, as they have unique rhythms and situations and hence there is no scale of comparison.
In a photography Exhibition, I feel more satisfied if common people turn up in good numbers rather than accomplished photographers, and they get surprised by the nature in the form of my photographs and become voters for wildlife. I keep connected with many natural history and scientific societies; I give whatever image they need without a second thought, because images actually works for science. I do not work for money; money has to be an automatic by-product. Getting something on camera is not my main target in photography. Even if I need 20 trips to get a photo, it is fine; each of these trips is a step towards my goal and will bring more learning on the subject and ecosystem.
Every trip I learn something new, so I cannot stamp a trip as successful or failure. This is a life long journey that will end, when I end my journey.
In this context, so haven’t you attended any competitions?
Of course, I attended. I have ended up on jury panels even though I don’t like competition. Each image is different and not comparable, each judge will mark differently, even if you judge the same photo on different days the judgment is likely to be different. Two years back, I decided not to be part of any competition as jury anymore. The positive aspect about these competitions is I get to see so many images from different photographers, all new images for me, they surprise me and makes me humbled and inspires me, and I always have realization that lot of work is still undone for me.
Do you have a wish list of shots you still want to get?
The world is so huge, I have done almost nothing. What is left is uncountable and never ending, so why should I make a wish list of that!
You shoot all genres of nature photography – wildlife, macro, landscape, birds, underwater among others. Do you have a favorite and why?
Like a mother can’t point out who her favorite child is, I won’t be able to answer this question, I think I love each of these forms of photography equally, of course sometimes there are situational need to prioritize one over the other.
There are not many underwater photographers in India. What, or who, has been your biggest inspiration for underwater photography?
I love to see other’s images and see something different in each of them. All images are inspiring for me.
But specific to underwater photography, this amazing underwater world itself is an inspiring factor for working.
The underwater world is a huge world and only 5% of it is explored. 70% of the earth is covered with oceans and only 5% is explored.
This means that so much of new subjects and knowledge are waiting out there and that’s the reason enough for me.
Tell us about your most memorable underwater shoot experience.
Again I have objection about this “most“ word, it has an essence of competition.
All my favorite moments can’t compete with each other!
The first time I went under the ocean was really a special moment because it was a huge surprise, the encounter with a new world which was beyond my imagination. I visualized, tasted, smelled that amazing underwater world for the first time in my life. Last few years I have done interesting stuff like, dived with many of the so-called dangerous sharks, ie; Bull Shark, Great White, Tiger Shark, and Hammerhead, Crocodiles in Mexico. I dived with Leopard Seal in Antarctica, with Orca in Norway, Humpback Whales, Blue Whales and I dived with Anaconda in Brazil. So definitely I have had some good moments with all these creatures.
I have many more memorable experiences underwater. I did Ice diving in frozen white sea in Russia and Under Lake Baikal in winter , where the atmosphere was about -20 C and we had to cut the ice on the sea and lake surface and cut hole to enter the water , I have seen amazing Ice formation under Baikal lake and was amazed to see colourful coral and fishes under the frozen white sea.
I saw Baikal Seals, I photographed a rare baby Baikal Seal under water, I was surprised with the immense beauty of the moment, it was a blessed moment.
All these moments are memorable for me.
Have you had any notable missed opportunities, such as a rare bird/animal that took off just as you were about to press the shutter release?
Yes, I missed many times, but I feel “missed” is a negative word related to some kind of sadness or frustration.
I just see it as – couldn’t do it this time, may be will get to do it later.
Whenever we return to nature it offers more and more surprises, so virtually we get more than what we think we missed.
Having photographed in so many wilderness areas, do you have some favorite places or locations that keep drawing you back?
I loved all the places I have photographed; I try to go back to all the locations.
What are your top tips for shooting wildlife that are almost never taught? Something new and fresh!
I don’t want to talk about techniques. First you learn about your camera and know how to make it shoot according to your wish. Actual photography starts after that. Photography is a form of meditation for me. No desire should be related to it. Enjoy your surroundings, be calm and cool and let it happen, don’t be mad or aggressive for getting a shot. Don’t be competitive. Appreciate other’s work and try to contribute to science and society.
Was there ever a time when you felt like you were in danger while photographing?
Wild animals are not dangerous. If you ask what fear is, in relation to wildlife it is the lack of knowledge. If you know the situation, know the behavior of animal then it cannot be dangerous. If you don’t get in to their private space it is never dangerous. Once in a while accidents occur and that is normal.
What is the inspiration to start “Saevus”, one of the leading nature and wildlife magazines in India?
The thought of “Saevus” was to give a platform to nature photographers, as there are no such platforms for photographers in this country. A platform to share and earn.
What do you think is the greatest difficulty for someone trying to get into the field of wildlife and conservation photography?
There were two important landmarks in photography in the recent past. One is shifting from film camera to digital camera and second is evolution of Internet. Because film to digital camera increases the supply of media by a million times, people can take any number of images, as there is no limit on storage.
Also we get to see all the images through Internet, sometimes in real time too.
Nowadays we don’t buy magazines or books to see photographs, rather preffering to see it free over the Internet. World is so much exposed, and everything is available online. People don’t need to spend money to see the images. Supply is much higher than demand, and the viewers have more options. It is difficult for photographers to survive in this environment.
One can do something else related to photography like photography workshops or photo tours, but again this is not pure form of photography, but these activities can be pursued for survival, otherwise earning bread from publishing is a big challenge now and it is better to keep it as a hobby.
Any specific equipment that you are fond of? Or, how important is equipment?
A very common question I am asked often, “what is the best wildlife lens”. The problem is in most cases equipment comes first, then the photographs.
I think that your photo should be created in your mind, then you choose the equipment you need to create it. There is nothing-called wildlife lens, landscape photography lens and so on, lenses are basically tools, which helps you to execute your visualized frame. You can even shoot landscape with an 800 mm lens.
I have all kind of lenses and I use all kind of lenses in different situations. When I need to create something specific, I use the proper lens to create that frame.
What’s the most elusive animal you’ve had to photographed?
Some interesting elusive species I photographed are Bullfinch, Bengal Florican, Western Tragopan, Brown Bear, and Snow Leopard. Recently I photographed the Marbled Cat, but that was a camera trap photo and not a direct sighting.
Major challenge is their elusiveness and lack of information, for photographing some of these species I had to make 10 to 20 trips over few years in different areas.
When I get an elusive animal, or when a species is being photographed for the first time by me, I don’t feel happy because I am the first to do it. I feel happy that finally its being done.
With your experience, most of the things you say is a lesson, anything more you would like to add?
You need to have natural history knowledge, so you must study the ecosystem before you work in it. If you need to work with something, you need to predict it. You cannot do that unless you have the knowledge. Prediction is an important aspect of photography.
Your opinion on achievements and what do they mean to you?
For me recognitions in any form is not an achievement.
Achievements are when I set my goal and I could reach close to my goal.
Yes, of course I feel happy when I see my photographs inspiring people especially children and spreading awareness.
Few words on your future projects and goals?
I was working in different places all over the world and feel that I had left out the things to do in India. Of course, the world is huge and I do need to see a lot of it, but for now it is going to be India. There are so many things left undone, like work on the lizards and frogs. There are also some un-photographed areas in some parts of Northeast, Andaman and Nicobar island, I would like to concentrate on them. When this interview will be published I will be in Arunachal Pradesh with few scientists, exploring the biodiversity of Siang river Basin.
What is the favorite reward that you get from nature photography?
When I share my pictures with people and see them getting inspired and falling in love with the natural world, that makes me happy and that is most rewarding.
Tell us about family, how do you balance personnel life and professional life?
I don’t have to do any balancing, my parents, sisters, friends all of them does everything for me so that I can follow my dreams. All the sacrifices are theirs, they do all the balancing.
Often people clap and give me lot of credit after seeing my work. I would like to tell them humbly that my photographs are not just the result of my hard work, it’s the contribution of many, i.e the scientists I gather information from, my field boys, my drivers, all the people who worked on the particular species or places before and passed on information, my sponsors (on the sponsored trips), last but not the least, my friends and family. I believe my work is the result of collective effort, so I cannot claim and accept the entire credit for my work. I feel if I get any credit any clap for my work that has to be distributed among all the people I mentioned above. My field boys, drivers and friends are my extended family, I couldn’t have done anything without this big family of mine.
