Today, the 19th of August marks World Photography Day. The idea behind this day is to encourage people to pursue photography as a hobby or career and hold discussions about photography. Photography is an art. The extensiveness of this art makes people learn new things every day and continuously explore different genres. If someone asks us about Wedding/Newborn/Fashion/Landscape photographers – we all can name few. But I am sure that most of us can’t name even one Wildlife/Bird Photographer. That's the reason I chose to talk about Bird Photography on this special day. Bird photography is one of the most popular genres and considered as most challenging. There are many factors like expensive lenses, light quality, arrival of birds, faster shutter speeds, composition which makes Bird Photography intricate. We all knew how fast birds fly, capturing them while flying requires high level of professionalism, practice, fast reflexes and skill with Camera settings. Getting sharp and detailed images is a very tough task. Patience and Timing are the key here. Also, earning money with bird photographs is tough. Many people happily give away pictures just to see them published. Pushing all these difficulties aside, there are many passionate photographers who not only tries to click birds, but also does their part to protect them. On this World Photography Day, let’s visit some of the stunning Bird pictures and their respective Photographers based out of Telugu States:
1. Ujval Pasupuleti Ujval is born and brought up in Suryapet. He is enthralled by Photography as early as from schooling with a film camera and that fascination soon turned him in to a passionate photographer. Despite being a Senior Manager in one of the MNC’s, the quest to explore Photography never halted for Ujval. He is into Photography for 14+ years now and travelled to different National parks, sanctuaries, lakes and he sometimes amazes us by clicking outstanding pictures from his home. Gear used: Nikon D750 with Tamron 150-600mm lens Instagram: ujval37
2. Sriram Reddy Sriram hails from East Godavari and settled in Hyderabad. He is into Photography for 6 years now. Besides photography, he works as a Solution Architect developer. He initially started by visiting Osman Sagar to photograph Greater Flamingos. But now, he has travelled 15 states in India and clicked more than 850 different birds. From Telangana alone, he has photographed more than 320 birds. Gear used: Nikon D5 & D500 with Nikkor 200-500mm and Nikkor 600mm lens Instagram: Sriram.Wildlife.Photographer
3. Ismail Shariff Ismail left his IT job in Paris and came back to Hyderabad to become a full time Wildlife photographer and Fine art printmaker. He is popularly known as Snow Leopard Man of India and is into Photography for 13 years now. He is a conservation photographer with Snow Leopard Trust. He has conducted 3 solo international exhibitions till now and the only Wildlife Photographer to be invited from India for a conference on Snow Leopards in Kazakhstan. Gear used: Canon 5D Mark iii with 600mm lens and Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-500mm lens Instagram: ismailshariff
4. Ashwin Kadiyala Ashwin works for a Telecom Giant, handling sales for enterprise segment. Photography is his hobby to de-stress and eventually this hobby has turned into passion. Photography helped him to be closer to the nature, spend quality time and it's absolutely fascinating watching these winged friends in their natural habitat. There is so much to learn from nature, bird photography teaches you patience. Gear used: Nikon D850 with a Nikkor 500mm F4 lens Instagram: ashwinkadiyala
5. Pariksheet Devulapalli Pariksheet is a software developer by profession and hails from East Godavari, but settled in Hyderabad. He is born and brought up at a place with lots of greenery, wildlife and birds. Bird watching has been his long-time hobby. After coming to Hyderabad, he started clicking birds at Ameenpur lake as it is very close to his home. Gear used: Nikon D500 & D850 with a Nikkor 300 2.8F VR2 lens Instagram: pariksheetd
6. Iqbal Siddiqui Iqbal is settled in Hyderabad and is into IT industry. Iqbal feels that the Birds are toughest to shoot. He has been a bird watcher before, which led him to start Bird Photography and started this 8 years ago. He likes to click pictures which speaks about plastic pollution and convey how harmful it is to Birds. Gear used: Canon 7D with Canon 400mm and Canon 70-300mm lens Instagram: _iqbal.siddiqui_
7. Sidhu Varma Sidhu is from Tuni, Andhra Pradesh. He is into Photography from last 4 years. Sidhu is passionate about wildlife from childhood which eventually driven to Bird Photography. Sidhu says the wide variety of species in our ecosystem, range of beautiful colors and their unspoken language attracted him towards this interesting platform. Besides photography, he works for an IT company. Gear used: Nikon D500 with a Nikkor 500mm lens Instagram: Sidhu.Varma.Photography
8. Sudhir Moorti Sudhir started Bird Photography as a hobby and learned it for bird watching. He says Birding is a more of passion bordering on obsession. He spent the last 16 years in pursuit of these feathered beauties in India and other countries. He is from Hyderabad and works as a Risk Management Consultant. Gear used: Canon 77D with Canon 400mm lens Instagram: sudhir.moorti
9. Srikanth Bhamidipati Srikanth is from Hyderabad and works as a software professional. He is fascinated by bird watching and some unusual behavior of them made him take up Bird Photography in the first place. Mere watching was not enough, so he started clicking birds and documenting them from the last 8 years. Gear used: Sony A9 Camera with 200-600mm lens Instagram: panda_clicked
10. Sanjeev Siva Sanjeev is a storyteller who tells tales through his Photography. He says Birds in general represent Freedom and that’s what drawn him to Bird Photography. He is from Hyderabad and is into Full time Photography from last 7-8 years. One must visit his profile to experience the wide range of wildlife collection. Gear used: Nikon D850 with a Nikkor 400mm F2.8 FL ED VR lens Instagram: i_sanjeevsiva
11. Raj Muddam Rajashekar hails from Karimnagar, Telangana. Love for nature drove Raj towards Bird Photography. He is conveying the importance of conserving the wildlife and nature through his photographs. He is into Bird Photography for 3 years now and capturing some mind blowing pictures. Besides photography, he works as an VFX artist. Gear used: Canon EOS 6D Mark ii with Sigma 150-600mm lens Instagram: rajmuddam
12. Gokul Krishna Gokul is from Kurnool and has an eye to good stuff around him. His interest in wildlife started few years ago on a casual walk with other birding group. Interest gradually grew into passion and now it has become a part of his life. There is hardly any weekend which he doesn't plan a birding walk. He has got to see a lot of places which usually would not have without Birding. The below photo was featured in BBC Earth. Gear used: Nikon D500 with Nikon 200mm-500mm lens Instagram: coolkriss
13. Phani Krishna Phani feels Birds are one of the most challenging and beautiful subject to photograph and one will get to travel the length and breadth of the country to capture them. He is from Hyderabad and is into photography from 2014. Besides Photography, he has his own business. Great going Phani. Gear used: Canon 5D Mark iv with 600mm lens Instagram: rphanikrishna
14. Ritish Kannayagari Youngest of the lot. Ritish started Bird photography from the age of 15. Now, he is a final year Engineering student and a Wildlife Photographer by passion. He used to have a lot of fascination towards wildlife and nature from his childhood. Bird Photography caught his attention as it is really challenging. Kudos to him for managing both studies and Photography together. Keep rocking boy! Gear used: Nikon D500 with Tamron 150-600mm lens Instagram: ritish_kannayagari
There will be many other exceptional Bird Photographers who will wait for hours and even days to get that one perfect shot. Hats off to all these enthusiastic people. Let us know more about Bird Photography and Photographers in the comments section. I will come up with more topics on Photography soon. Cheers! - SUNIL
