Ten year old Shreyovi Mehta from India has scripted history by becoming the youngest photographer from India to win the prestigious Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in October 2024. At the age of 9, Shreyovi was declared as the runner up at what is popularly called the ‘Oscars of Wildlife Photography’.
Shreyovi’s image of two peahens silhouetted against the early morning winter mist of Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur has caught global attention ever since Natural History Museum released her image in the official media release showcasing, the first set of winning images in August 2024. She was later awarded in the grand award night in London on October 8th, 2024.
Shreyovi Mehta belongs to a family of India’s leading wildlife professionals. Her mother – Kahini Ghosh Mehta – is the founder of India’s foremost wildlife photography tourism company Nature Wanderers. Her father – Shivang Mehta – is an internationally acclaimed photographer, an accomplished author and has worked on critical projects with various conservation and government bodies. With this background, Shreyovi started her journey in wildlife at the age of two when she visited Ranthambore for the first time and since then she has travelled to ten national parks of India including Corbett, Bandhavgarh, Pench, Satpura, Kanha, Keoladeo, Panna, Sariska and Rann of Kutch.
She started getting a hang of photography using her father’s spare camera bodies by the age of six and ever since she manages to spend around 30 40 days on the field with him annually. Shreyovi loves going for tiger safaris, but her keen interest is to explore forests on foot and hence Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur gives her the freedom to document wildlife on foot.
Balancing her studies and her passion for wildlife photography, Shreyovi – a grade five student of Shiv Nadar school gets ample support from her school which is also proud of her achievements and talent. She aspires and dreams to explore the Himalayas and join her father for a snow leopard expedition in the coming years.
Shreyovi’s award and recognition is a clear testimony of the fact that children can be productively groomed and nurtured at a young age and their skills and abilities if tapped and channelised in a positive direction can help a long way in shaping their future.
