This Young Photographer Has A Lens For Wildlife!

Meet this 14-year-old wildlife photographer Amoghavarsham. From India’s national pride - the mighty tiger, majestic elephants, chirpy birds flying up the high skies, tiny insects or colourful butterflies – nothing misses this teenager’s lens.
Though young in age but his maturity in his work matches any acclaimed photographer.
Amoghavarsham – the young wildlife photographer displayed his magical work at an exhibition ‘The Moghi’s Tale’ at Bengaluru’s Chitrakala Parishad from June 1 to June 5. The conclusion of the exhibit coincides with the World Environment Day, and the photographs displayed carried a message for conserving wildlife.

A ninth-grade student was inspired by his parents to take up the lens as they like to travel in forests, bird sanctuaries and wildlife reserves. “My parents used to travel a lot to the forests when I was three to four years old. I used observe the creatures of the moth nature and I used to search for more information about them”.

The exhibition was inaugurated by Senior Editor Vishweshwar Bhatt. Dr Sanjay Gubbi, Rohit Verma, Dr Bindu Hari, Prashant Prakash and Malathy Narayan were also present at the inauguration.

Amogha’s father, Dr. PS Harsha is an IPS officer and well known in wildlife field Chaitra. “When my parents knew my interests in clicking pictures of wild animals and birds they started taking me along,” said Amoghavarsham who wants to take up wildlife photography as a career.  

With his parents, he clicked pictures in reserve forests and a tiger reserve, Nagarhole, Bandipur forest, Western Ghats, BR Hills and MM Hills. Clicking pictures of tigers excites the young photographer the most. “One has to wait for hours to capture a tiger in the lens of a camera. From no where this giant creature emerges and in three-four minutes he disappears into the bushes. So one has a very short span of time to click its photographs,” revealed Amogha.

Butterflies and birds near his home also take Amogha’s attention. “One has to be really silent and quiet to click their pictures,” said Amogha who has learnt to keep patience unlike many youngsters of his age. The lockdown during the Covid19 pandemic proved a boon for Amogha, as he got lots of time to be around nature and capture the wildlife.

There were a total of 113 photographs at the exhibition. Amongst these are 3 landscape photographs, 52 bird photographs, 23 photographs of herbivores, 20 photographs of tigers, 11 photographs of other carnivores and 5 photographs of butterflies. This young photographer has proven himself that he is no less than any other older photographers

In a tweet, Bhatt said, “Participated in a wildlife photo exhibition and the release of the first film of wildlife conservation series of Amoghavarsha Patlapati, son of Dr. PS Harsha, IPS. Amoghavarsha has proved beyond doubt that he has heart in his clicking finger!”

Speaking at the event, Sanjay Gubbi, Senior Scientist from Holematthi Nature Foundation said, “Amogha is just not Amogha, he is an icon for the young people that you can all become and all that you want and reach a higher stage of life if you all put in effort and work sincerely. a lot of things can be achieved like this.”

Dr Bindhu Hari said, “Amoghavarsham has created a wonderful understanding about wildlife protection among students. His interest and dedication is such that it inspires others too. Amoghavarsham has captured all these beautiful images after dedicated trips to Karnataka’s Nagarhole, Bandipur, Dandeli, Male Mahadeshwara hills, Biligiri Rangana Betta among other locations. He has been learning about photography since the age of 8 and he really loves wild animals, especially tigers. He loves to photograph them.”

In his photography exhibition Amogha came with a message for conserving the environment. “Photography is a tool to conserve nature and whenever youngsters and other people see my work they will be attracted to nature and will certainly fall in love with nature and get motivated to conserve it,” said young Amoghavarsham.

(Article by GP Singh)