JOIN USRare photos from the wild such as a group of crows bullying a vulture and a tiger teaching her cub to swim are among the displays ready to attract visitors to an exhibition at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath (KCP) here, organised by the Facebook photography group ‘Wildlife Action Photography’ on Sunday.
The group was created in 2014 by Ananth Murthy and Jineesh Mallishery as a platform for people to share pictures they had clicked of wildlife in action, be it mating, hunting or resting. With a membership of over 70,000 from all over the country and even outside, it is one of the biggest groups for photography on the social media site.
The administrators, who now include Subramanniyan Mani, Rekha Chandrasegaran and Jitender Govindani, have big plans for the group starting with the contest they held recently on the theme ‘Raptors and Big Cats’. Of the 4,000-odd entries they received, 10 winners were selected by internationally acclaimed photographers Sudhir Shivaram, Kiran Poonacha and Yashpal Rathore. The top 50 photographs and the works of the judges are on display.
Govindani, a marketing professor in Hyderabad, said there are several lessons to be learned from nature. A photograph in which two elephants and a peacock are seen at ease near a napping tiger shows that there is no unnecessary animosity in the wild.
Each photograph has a story of great patience and skill behind it. Druva Deep’s picture of a rat snake biting a young eagle taken in the Hesaraghatta grassland has not only made it to the top 10, but was also picked up by the Daily Mail newspaper. Deep tracked the eagle for over two months, from the time it was born, till it became an experienced hunter. “It used to target creatures much larger than itself in the beginning like in this photograph, where it is attacking a fairly large rat snake.” After being injured in the encounter, the bird ate only moths for a while, before it regained the confidence to attack, he said.
The Forest department has teamed up with the group to award certificates to the shortlisted 100 photographers on Sunday. Besides, the top 10 candidates will get fully sponsored trips to Kabini and Bandipur. The group has many more activities lined up to encourage the love of photography and wildlife among people of all ages.
“In a city like Bengaluru, one can get completely swamped by work. But at some point, you have to put a stop to it and do something for yourself,” said Mani, who sought a break from hectic work life in photography.