For Coimbatore-based photographer Varun Aditya, nature has been his first love right from childhood. What started as a way of documenting his hometown through pictures on mobile cameras has now taken Varun to heights, with his photograph of a green vine snake winning him the top prize in the Animal Portraits category at the National Geographic Photographer of the year 2016 competition. This breathtaking image of the snake, which was taken rather accidentally, has shot this shutterbug to fame. He describes the story behind his images, how it is important for photographers to get out of their comfort zone to get the best images and more.
“I took a trip to Amboli, a hill station in Maharashtra, with an intention to capture the Malabar gliding frog, which is a native to the Western Ghats. On a particular day, having shot a Malabar gliding frog on a tree, I began searching the ground for its tiny fluorescent green tadpoles, which was when I spotted a green vine snake on a small dead branch. This was a first encounter of mine with a snake at such a short distance,” narrates Varun.
The lens man says he had to muster a lot of courage to get really close and compose the right shot, which got him the unexpected laurels. Titled ‘Dragging you deep into the woods’, this picture is almost spine-chilling, with the snake just inches away from the lens and wrapped onto a branch majestically. This 25-year-old shutterbug says photography has become his stress buster and an addiction. “I had moved to London for my education, which was when my professional photography journey started. I fell in love with the city and started clicking pictures on my phone, and slowly persuaded my parents to get me a DSLR. I used to walk several miles to click pictures, despite facing many problems from the gangsters in London. Slowly I developed an interest for action photography and realised freezing things were only possible through photography, which pushed me to visit all the parks in London to capture flying birds,” he shares.
This shutterbug is quite the multi-tasker and specialises in share trading strategies alongside clicking pictures. Over the years that he has been clicking photographs, Varun says making photography as a career can be tough in our country, with the immense competition one faces from the fellow shutterbugs. “To make a mark, photographers should never be afraid to get out of their comfort zones to something new and breaking the rules. All we need to do is to convey the message through a photograph in a way that people understand,” he concludes.
