LIFE LESSONS FROM BEHIND THE LENS
Abhijit Pattanayak, India My affair with the art of photography began 14 years ago when I bought my first camera. Since then I have been fascinated by the scope of various forms of photography. The love for this art-form has taught me to be patient, enabled an eye for different perspectives and áppreciate and admire the beauty in everything. By the time I got my first DSLR camera, wildlife photography was something that I had really started to explore. I had been following several Nat-Geo photographers for inspiration which made me curious about the scenarios and conditions they had to be in for one perfect shot. I started to click pictures of birds that visited my backyard posting them on Facebook and Instagram when one day a famous photographer from Odisha came across one of my posts and contacted me to collaborate for a joint project to visit a place named “Mangalajodi” where every year migratory birds visit. During this time, this place becomes one of the busiest tourist-spots. We had a 2-day schedule during which we had to be submerged in chest-deep back waters carrying our camera gears and scouting the areas for photos. Well, the trip was great, we got really nice pictures, some got published, some sold off to the Tourism Department, but this trip had something more in store for me. The night-sky of Mangalajodi was very clear and since it was a winter-night we could see a whole lot of stars which was simply impossible to witness for a city dweller like me. On the second night of our stay, I pointed my camera to the night sky and took my first long exposure photo, it was like a magic and love at first sight. Since then I have been travelling in search of clear, dark night skies, traveling to remote villages trying to capture Star Trails and Milky Way. TS TiMES, Special MONTHLY EDITION | L&T TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
Mangalajodi Swamp Land
14
