“Photography takes an Instance out of Time, altering life by holding it still” – Dorothea Lange
My photography journey began when I was 3 when my family and I went to Bandipur national park. My dad got interested in photography after we went to Kabini Forest Reserve in 2012. There during one safari, we got, in my opinion, the best sighting ever. Even though we went in a canter, we saw leopards, a mother and cub pair for about 20 minutes.
Then in the summer of 2013, my dad did a photography course which got him more interested in wildlife photography in general. From this time on, I and my family went to numerous places in the following years.
I got introduced to photography in 2014 when I went to a nature camp at Bannerghatta conducted by Toehold, a premier photo tour company. In the summer vacations of 2015 as my interest in photography grew, I wanted to learn more about it and that’s when I attended a photography course conducted by Toehold which was for over a week. I got to learn the basics of photography, do & don’ts which helped me to take better images and also to be creative in the ways I took the images. During the photography course it was very clear that the more you practice the more you learn and the eagerness to take better pictures.
As I finished this course, I attended photography camps at various places like Kabini, Bannerghatta, Bandipur, and B.R hills. These camps helped me to apply what I had learned during the course and were a learning ground for me to improve my skills. Ever since then, my family and I have been going to various national parks across India- Bandhavgarh, Kabini, Bandipur, Bhadra, and Corbett. By far my most favourite would be Kabini and Corbett.
I want to share a few memories of my trip here. The most exciting was the first trip outside of our state that we took to Kanha. In one of our safaris, we were traveling back to the gate in a hurry as we were out of time, our driver suddenly applied the brake to the jeep. We were taken by surprise as we were busy talking about the glimpse of the tiger we had got a while ago. Looking up to see the reason why our driver had brought the jeep to a halt, we realized that there was a tigress on the road who was hunting the deer in the bushes. We had to be reminded by the driver to take pictures as we all were so mesmerized by the beautiful tigress who had graced us with the exclusive sighting. This is a memory I will never forget as it was my first exclusive tiger sighting.
Another incident that I recall vividly is from my Bandhavgarh trip in Oct 2015. We were in our Morning Safari and had no luck till almost halftime. The Driver and the guide had stopped to listen to any alarm sounds or any clues to figure out where the tigers were. We suddenly saw a tigress cross the road followed by another tiger. We slowly approached the bushes to check where the tigers had gone when suddenly out of nowhere the male tiger came charging onto our jeep in a mock Charge and again ran away into the bushes. This was an exhilarating experience and something that I will never forget.
Every trip of mine with my parents and to various camps have provided me with such amazing experiences for which I am grateful.
A few accomplishments and accolades of mine to date are:
- My Pictures have been part of the Wild Karnataka Exhibition held in Dec 2017 as part of the “Wild Karnataka- A Showcase”
- My Images were selected to be in the final round of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year conducted by the National History Museum, London in 2016 and 2017.
- I have participated in many photography contests as well.
In conclusion, this Passion for Photography has allowed me to see the world through a different lens! I hope to continue to learn more about Nature, Wildlife, and Photography in the years to come. This hobby of mine has made me appreciate the beautiful creations of nature which I hope will be there for many more generations to come.
By, Anushka Raghunandan, 11A, CMRNPS
