more-in “What you capture is actually what you picture in your mind,” says Ramachandran Govindaraj, a wildlife photographer for the past five years. Admiring the works of the kids We were speaking to Govindaraj on the sidelines of Wild Wonders, an exhibition of nature photographs shot by children from the city. Organised by Mango Education in association with ZOO Reach, the hall had excited children eager to explain the story behind the pictures. Malabar Grey Hornbill Shreya Prashanth (13) talked about the thrill of capturing a photo of the Malabar Grey Hornbill during a vacation in Kurk. Malabar Giant Squirrel Nine-year-old Rohan Abraham’s first photo was the rare Malabar Giant Squirrel when he was in Munnar. “It was a once in a lifetime shot,” he said. A common toad resting on a lily pad “My hands were shaking when I took the picture in the TNAU Botanical Garden,” said eight-year-old H Advika, explaining how she waited for an hour for the toad to climb on to the leaf. The framed photographs, chosen by the children, are displayed against a blue background. ‘Hope’, which depicts a small stalk of a plant rising from debris, is symbolic of its name. Photos that catch one’s eyes are those of a nonchalant pigeon, a sharp-featured hornbill, a babbler, a solitary toad seated on a leaf, a marigold hosting a bee, a dragonfly with its translucent wings and a calm squirrel. A dragonfly spreads its translucent wings The environment depicted is both serene or rugged. Where one photograph captures the scarlet horizon, the other has the fiery sun. While the children learnt the aesthetics of nature, they also picked up aspects of conservation. The launch began with Govindaraj sharing his experiences of wildlife photography. He emphasised that patience was highly important in photography. J Kingsley David, a bird photographer, also spoke about his experiences and how he had to wait for more than two hours to shoot a Blue-hued Indian Roller. All the children whose works were displayed were part of a photography workshop for kids organised Mango Education in collaboration with the Zoo Reach. The workshop facilitators Priyanka Iyer and Aasif Iqbal not only taught the kids photography techniques but also how to identify different species at the TNAU campus and the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve Park.

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