Sanctuary | People
Sanctuary | PeopleLife’s experiences have had a profound infl uence on Ganesh’s works, which transcend into his personal
and philosophical space. His mind’s eye-view (above) of a King Vulture translated into this image.I have shot thousands of such images
trying to capture the colours, patterns,
designs, behaviours, actions, and the
mood and emotions they invoke. What I
try to photograph these days is the very
essence of life. Nature photography for
me is everything the universe gives us –
its laws, principles, the totality of all things
that exist, the natural forces that exist,
create and control the universe. Nothing
that we humans have created so far is as
mysterious, as magical, as mind blowing as
‘life’ is, be it in science or art that we have
indulged in all these years. Next time you
see a seed sprouting take a moment to
think about the emerging new life! It will
grow, new seeds will germinate, so will new
sprouts during the next monsoon. It needs
to be felt, not just seen. My work is very
personal and as I said earlier, it serves my
emotional needs. I enjoy portraying beauty
from the artistic rendering of nature to
philosophy now.
What according to you makes a
great photograph?
I think any photograph (and the
photographer), great or otherwise, is
not greater than the subject itself. That
said, I asked this question myself a few
years ago. I turned to Google then. If you
searched for the ‘greatest photographs’
you will see several lists popping up –
‘Top 10 greatest photographs’, ‘20 of the
greatest, most iconic photos ever taken’
and so on. Of these lists, 99 per cent ofphotographs portray war atrocities, human
suff ering, racial discrimination, misery...
basically, themes around death. I have
not seen any lists that include a beautiful
mountain or a stunning waterfall.
Why is this? I think Darwin answered
this – survival. Subjects around survival
of the human species and morality take
precedence over everything else that
gets photographed. We love ourselves
more than any other subject. ”The world
is going to pieces and people like Adams
and (Edward) Weston are photographing
rocks!” This is what Henry Cartier Bresson
said about acclaimed photographers
Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. If we
interchange the subjects in Kevin Carter’s
‘Famine in Sudan’, to one of a dying
vulture and an onlooker, would it have
won the Pulitzer prize? At best, it would
have become yet another ‘conservation
photograph’ and been forgotten the
next day.
It is not that that I am unmoved
by photographs of human suff ering.
However, the formula of depicting misery
and human suff ering to make a ‘great’
photograph is not one that I agree with. At
the same time, as a nature photographer
who currently enjoys wondering about
the mysteries of nature in the micro and
macro universe, I will not categorise a
‘great photograph’ as in doing so I am sure
to exclude categories that I am not familiar
with or which are not as popular.that take the reader to a whole
new level of visual experience. He
speaks to Lakshmy Raman about
his work and why he believes
that photographers must
choose to defi ne the intent
behind their imagery.
Why wildlife photography?
How did you become interested
in photography?
I completed my post-graduation
in Computer Science and joined
government service as a scientist.
Though I am an engineer by profession,
photography is my true passion. I took
it up as a hobby over two decades ago. I
bought my fi rst point-and-shoot camera
in 1993 to capture the beauty of the
Western Ghats during a trek. A few years
later, a classmate of mine introduced me
to SLR cameras and bought one for me.
I was hooked! I spent all my spare time
exploring natural habitats and trying to
capture some of its magic and glory.
I taught myself the basics of nature
photography by reading a series of
books written by the great John Shaw.
Who were your influences while
growing up?
I spent much of my childhood years
with my grandmother in a small coastal
village called Bada near Byndoor in
the Udupi district of Karnataka. She
truly played a key role in my love for
nature. My grandmother had the task
of managing the household livestock. I
often accompanied her to the nearby
foothills of the Western Ghats to bring
back our cows and buff aloes. Those
silent, pristine streams and mountains
and valleys etched lasting impressions in
my mind. I grew up listening wide-eyed
to stories my grandmother regaled me
with about tigers attacking our cows,
about King Vultures and more. I often
saw vultures in the wild then, but sadly
they are now a rarity. All these early
experiences moulded my interests and
made me who I am today.
What excites you about being
a photographer?
Photography satisfi es my creative urge.
It nourishes my soul. To me, the words
nature photography go beyond our natural
world – landscapes, seascapes, night skies
and their denizens, though I do enjoy
photographing these. Over the years
GANESH H. SHANKAR