There is always a concealed story and inexplicable toil behind every wildlife photograph we see. The journey is arduous. Wildlife enthusiast and CEO of Mastodon Solstein, Arun Bharadwaj Padmanaban(29) elucidates about his hard journey of wildlife for 20 years, his experience and about nature in a free-wheeling chat with News Today.
Excerpts from the interview
Q: What is Mastodon Solstein?
A: The name ‘Mastodon Solstein’ ensued with my love for elephants. We faintly know two different species of elephants but there are huge number of elephant species which are extinct now, in which Mastodon is the largest of its kind and ‘Solstice’ denotes seasons. Thus perceiving the perfect rhyme, it ended as Mastodon Solstein. It is a travel company who arranges wildlife trips with a compact team of six enthusiasts – Saravanan Ramalingam, Sanjitha Ajith Kumar, Karthik Suresh, Rahul Chiranjeevi, Lavanya Narayana Raju – including myself.
Q: What made your path lead to wildlife?
A: My first visit into the jungle in 1999 triggered an intense feeling in my heart falling for the nature and this visit enhanced my already existing love for elephants and animals. I’m deeply proud that I have visited almost all the national parks in India since then, completing my 20 years in wildlife recently. It was only three years since the passion for wildlife photography was instigated when once I felt photographs prompt to recollect things quicker.
Q: How difficult is wildlife photography compared to other genres?
A: Every genre of photography has its own set of difficulties either it be a street photography, product photography or food photography. The wildlife photographers require an extra mile of patience and vigorous travel. But trust me, once you love travelling, it is a mania. You will never be exhausted throughout the tour. I would always try to cut down the luggage as my camera gears are pivotal and I am very conscious about my data so I carry the required equipments in surplus. Each day in wildlife is challenging in a unique way and it is implausible to create today’s minute in wildlife tomorrow and that’s why nature is an enchantress.
Q: Is there a change in the forest over these years?
A: Yes, there is enormous change in the wildlife. To simply put in words, the lush green of the forests have been replaced by a feigned shade of green and the natural scent of the forest is slowly fading. Now we have been pushed to capture the wildlife with lens thus the beauty of
the forest remains with us and pass it on to the following generation.
Q: Tell us about your frenzy for big cats.
A: Though tigers are the strongest among the big cats, I have this exceptional attraction towards leopards. Besides, I’m certain with ‘Not only tigers’. I would definitely give precedence to all the creatures in the nature because without them nature would stun. To observe every minute detail of nature is an un-explainable emotion of complacency. Maybe that is why I would prefer to call me an animal observer rather a wildlife photographer or big cat tracker.
Q: Aren’t these animals dangerous?
A: We feel extremely anxious seeing the deer being hunted by the tiger. But the fact that the tiger wouldn’t get its prey in the first attempt often goes unnoticed. I don’t concur with the saying ‘Life and death’. It must be life and life because a tiger’s food is a deer and that is how nature has been designed, it is the lifecycle and it is unaltered. And I time and again quote ‘Humans are dangerous and animals are not’, until humans perturb animals, animals won’t attack because we humans are not in the menu of the big cats or wild animals. I quote Rahul Dravid ‘The best way to defend is to attack and the best way to attack is to defend’. I wish people could understand this and pull them out from this fallacious notion that animals are dangerous.
(Written by Afrin Fowmitha)