I was on my office trip in Rajasthan and looking at all those beautiful colors seemed very magical to me and I started clicking pictures. I loved the process. Even though photography isn’t a strange concept to me, doing it myself was a whole new experience. I did my schooling at a boarding school in Nainital and every weekend used to be a picnic for us. I used to observe a lot of wildlife and nature around. While we were on this trip, we went on a jungle safari and it was life-changing for me. I started observing the tigers and clicked their pictures and loved them. After that trip, I started making trips to a lot of jungles to click pictures of wildlife animals and read their behavior.
As we think of wildlife photography, we think of how expensive it can be and that is right. To make the right investment in my gears and time, I started following the work of different wildlife photographers and read a lot of articles about wildlife photography. After thorough research, I decided to invest in the equipment suitable for it. It takes time to build a proper collection of equipment and I’m still working on it.
Time management has been the most important factor for me since I started doing my photography. It is completely passionate and to manage it with my full-time job, I plan a lot of things ahead. Initially, it used to be tough but now that I am a little experienced about the wildlife habitat and animal behavior through many travels to the most precious jungles in India. Even though wildlife photography is very unpredictable, I research a lot to know when, where, and how to plan my trips for the best results. I usually travel through weekends and that way it gets a lot easier.
My family has been very supportive of this. Even my wife and daughter love traveling and we go together a lot of time except on a little dangerous jungle safari, as my daughter is just 2 years old. On the weekends I’m not traveling, I usually go out in the city and try to explore more places. Other than wildlife, I love traveling photography as I have always been a traveler first and photography came much later in my life. I try to keep the balance between both of them.
On a ground level, you just don’t take a picture, you make it. There are a lot of times when you cannot move from one place to another in case any animal is near you. It is very important to stay unnoticed. Sometimes, you have to wait for hours for them to come and a lot of practice of different angles and compositions.
My work was displayed at a lot of exhibitions and competitions like the Jaipur Tiger festival, DJMC Exhibition, Shrishti exhibition, and many more. After many years and overwhelming response in domestic exhibitions, I’m now looking forward to participating in some international platforms. I will grab the opportunity as soon as I get one.
Wildlife photography takes a lot of time to start giving you monetary support. I am currently very happy with where I am, it will take some more experience to take a plunge as a full-time photographer but eventually, it will happen. It is my passion and I have a lot of respect for it.
Finding a passion is great but nurturing it every day is more important. A lot has changed since I started doing photography, it has evolved me as a person and made me more responsible towards things. Once you start working towards it, everything starts falling into place and all those excuses you made for not doing something will automatically be cut off from the list.
- Samanvay Bhutani
