On a wilder note

Rohit Varma, co-founder of Nature InFocus, finds his muse in stunning landscapes and magical wildlife. He believes the world is full of unique natural wonders. Being a nature lover and photographer, he believes human life survival is completely dependent on nature and everybody must be responsible to save and conserve this beautiful world. The director of the Social Media Week, Rohit also voiced his thoughts and inspired many at TEDx in Bengaluru last year.

Tiger engulfed in Parthenium

A protected elephant calf

A self-taught photographer, he has been passionate about photography ever since he can remember. “I have learnt photography on my own and feel the best way to learn photography is to take images, analyse, see the work done by others and learn the composition. I got hooked on to nature and wildlife photography when I visited Bandipur and felt an innate connection with the natural world. That visit was the turning point of my life.

Bewitching landscape

A male great Indian hornbill

The natural bounty is so marvelous that everybody must see and appreciate what nature gives to us. And that’s why photographs are the best way to communicate and get more people close to this amazing nature. Clicking gives me inspiration, peace and opportunity to look at life from a different perspective. I showcase and share my work under Creative Commons (CC) so that it reaches a wider audience.

A road amidst nature

Although my images are available under Creative Commons (he doesn’t copyright images and keeps them free under CC license); I still get requests from people who are interested in buying the prints. One organisation bought my prints to gift to their customers. This is good encouragement to go out and do better every time I click,” states Rohit. Rohit co-founded Nature InFocus, a nature and wildlife fest, with the purpose of building awareness and making people fall in love with nature. And that’s not all. He wears many hats with élan. He is also the founder and managing partner of R Square Consulting.

Tiger in the golden light“I also speak and share my thoughts about nature and wildlife at various forums. I took up photography seriously as I needed to do something about what I was so passionate about. My images have been published worldwide. Every trip to the forest is unique and I remember all my photography sojourns and time spent in the wilderness vividly,” states Rohit.

A herd of bisonRecalling a recent incident, he adds, “When I was shooting a sloth bear from some distance, I realised that they were aware of my presence. After sometime, they started getting down from the hillock and headed straight towards me. I had no place to go and was a bit worried. Fortunately, luck turned in my favour and they changed their path and went away.”