Moments with Legends

24th August 2013, Sahithya Academy, Trissur; 

An unforgettable day in my life as I could meet Rathika Ramasamy, one of the great Indian wildlife photographer; In fact the first woman photographer of India. It was a wildlife photography workshop conducted by the Backlight Film Institute and I came to know about this through Facebook as I am one of the follower of Rathika mam. I was the first person who registered for this event and I was eagerly waiting for this event.

I have reached Trissur by morning train, refreshed and went to the venue before the starting time. There were around 15 participants and she came to us and I got introduced with her. My god; one of my dream comes true. The workshop was fantastic; but I would say I really got impressed with her experience with nature and the passion towards her profession rather than the technical stuff she taught.

I had lot of questions about lot of photographs she has taken as I am a regular visitor of her website. I have leaned a lot within the 8 hrs; and also I could able to identify lot of mistakes I used to do. We had hands on session post lunch which was really helpful to understand lot of techniques she follow. other highlight of this workshop was I got introduced with lot of talented amateur photographers who attended this session. It was a great experience to share our experience with wildlife photography and especially the stories of some trips they made.

13th September 2013, Hampi; 

Another lucky day in my life; I got a chance to work with Sudhir Shivaram in Daroji Sloth Bear sanctuary near Hampi, Karnataka. It was a workshop conducted by Saevus Magazine in Sloth Bear resort near Hampi. There were only two participants as it was a 3 day camp and Sloth Bear sanctuary in almost an unknown place in Karnataka. But in fact it is the one and only Bear Sanctuary in India (Only for sloth Bears). I have reached Hospet railway station on 13th September Morning. As the workshop starts at 12.00, I had decided to roam around Hampi which is a very famous historical place in Karnataka.

I have reached Daroji Sloth bear resort by 1.00. I got a warm welcome when I walked to my cottage Sudhir Sir was standing outside his room as our rooms were nearby. I went to him and got introduced with him. My goodness… Another unforgettable moment in my life. It was my dream to meet him as he is one of my inspiration to get in to the field of Photography. There were one more guy from Pune in this work shop; and he was my room mate. By 1.30 we had lunch together with Sudhir sir. After the lunch he explained the plan for another three days. I came to know that Hampi is famous for bird-life rather than wildlife. There was a canal near by the resort; the natural habitat for large variety of birds.

We went there by 3.00 PM. Sudhir sir has mentioned that it is a good practice to shoot birds from the car itself so that we can hide from the bird also we will get good support for the camera. We spotted a beautiful Indian Rock Eagle Owl – we were in the car and while shooting I kept me camera on the window and I got good support for the heavy lens. The bird was cooperative and I got time to compose the image as well. we had safari thrice near to that canal and I don’t have words to explain the experience… it was just fantabulous… and believe me I got at least 30 varieties of birds from there

The next day morning we went to Matanga hills to shoot The Queen of Matanga Hill – The Rare Yellow Throated Bulbul. I came to know from Sudhir Sir that Matanga hill is the best place to spot the rare Yellow throated bulbul. We have reached there by 7.00 AM and waiting for the bird to come. Since the subject was competitively small and it is not cooperating it was challenging to shoot it. After waiting quite some time, we saw that the bird was sitting on the branch. I have set the exposure quickly and I could able to climb on a rock so that I can hide from the subject as well as the camera will be almost the eye level of the bird and I got good support to hold the heavy lens. The bird was there approximately for a minute and I could able to shoot within this short time.

Also we spotted one baby Monitor Lizard. When we spotted the lizard we were about 20 feet from the subject. Slowly I approached to subject without disturbing it and took few snaps. I could able to change my position to set the background. I got the lizard with green and pink backgrounds as there was greenery and some rocks behind. I could able to approach the subject so close, as I was few feet from the subject at last.

We came back from Matanga hills and had break fast. We got some time to take rest and after lunch Sudhir sir has checked our snaps and given lot of tips to improve our skills. By 2.00 PM we went to The Bear sanctuary which was about 12 km from the resort. The Daroji Bear Sanctuary is a wonderful habitat of Sloth bears. We just reached there and there was a watch tower which was inside the forest and very close to the place where the sloth bears used to come. We have waited long 3 hrs there and by 5.30 we spotted one. I was bit worried because the sunlight was going to be over by another half and hour. But I didn’t want to increase the ISO more than 800. But my luck… I could take lot of good shots from the sanctuary after waiting long 3 hours.

Sudhir sir has given instructions through out the shoot which helped me to improve a lot especially setting the exposure and composition. The main challenge to photograph the sloth bear was setting the exposure. The subject (sloth bear) is dark, so it was important that to set the right exposure as body of the sloth bear has to be properly exposed. I knew that if the exposure goes wrong the overall quality of the picture will go for a toss. Sudhir sir asked me to set the exposure first before the sloth bear comes. I have focused on the green grass in the habitat and checked the histogram and made sure that it is a correct exposure. Also he has asked me to set the right white balance manually. Since we were in the watch tower, we couldn’t move a lot but we were waiting the sloth bear to move to get different poses.

The last day after the canal safari I got around 2 hours to roam around the The Daroji Jungle Resort; a beautiful, a well maintained resort which I am really impressed with. I got lot of good shots from the campus itself as it was a natural habitat of lot of birds. And also really impressed with the hospitality of the staffs. The food, accommodation, safari – everything was awesome. Overall I have enjoyed a lot and this experience will be safe in my heart for life time…

I feel like; I am really lucky; I could meet 2 legendary photographers within one month. I have learned a lot during these workshops in both technical and non- technical aspects. The main thing I got is the field techniques like how to approach a subject (can be a mammal or bird). It helped me a lot especially in bird photography which I was more concerned about. The eye level photography – Another important point; Pre-Visualization – which I wasn’t aware about and the importance of understanding the behavior of animals. A common thing I learnt from these workshops is – I could realize that the wildlife photography has another dimension; it is not just clicking the animals but admiring and respecting the mother nature. The most important thing I have leaned is the ethics of photography. Now I understood how important this point is, as both of them had mentioned about it.

The fact is that after meeting them I realized, how bad photographer I am… really!!! And still; there are lot of personalities I admire like Kalyan Varma, NA Naseer, Vasudha Chakravarthy… the list goes on and I am sure I am gonna meet them one day…