Wilderness -Earn your daily bread

Saurabh Pandey March 13, 2016

The tiger is a fierce hunter and if you are a mother with three young cubs to feed ,then you surely need to be good at your job. While all forms of deer are indeed good but for a family of 4 , a Sambhar comes real handy as a meal ,which would last a family for a few days .

Water holes are places which are frequented by both the prey and the predator. In this case , the setting was the Moharli zone of the Tadoba Andhari wildlife sanctuary. This territory is ruled by the 5 year old dominant and fierce Tigress “ Sonam” and her family of three cubs. Its quite interesting as to how this tigress got the name “Sonam “ . Usually the forest department is looking for identification marks in a tiger which could be any pattern in terms of an alphabet or anything unique which would help one to identify the tiger. Now Sonam has an “ S “ shaped mark near her right neck and hence she was given a name starting with the alphabet “S”.

One night , when a Sambhar visited one of the waterhole at near Moharli , what awaited him was a strong fierce & hungry Sonam who stalked and killed it. Unlike Lions , tigers are loners and hunt alone and do the majority of their hunting at night but they can also hunt during the day if they are desperately in need of food. In the morning when i reached the waterhole , i saw the kill lying next to the water and after a long wait , Sonam appeared and after having a sip of the water , went straight to the kill . She barely took a few bites and then decided to pull up the kill to a more private location where her family could eat in peace without being disturbed by scavengers. Usually tigers do this to avoid unwanted attention for such a large kill and prefer to eat in private. If the carcass is in a safe place, the tiger may be able to return to it for a few days and take advantage of the convenient meal.

In this image on can clearly see that the kill is lying next to the water and Sonam is using her strength to pull it up. Typically these big cats start eating large animals from behind as the portion of the body is softer and hence Sonam was trying to get a grip on the portion of the body which was already cut open and common sense prevailed to drag it from behind as the face was closer to the water

A full grown Sambhar weighs around 300 kgs and is certainly a very heavy animal to drag at an elevation , even for a strong tigress who would weigh around 120 kgs. Sonam started to drag this utilising all of the strength in her muscles and after a few minutes , decided to look around for any trouble . In this image , she stands around the kill and looks around . Her posture , with the front legs bordering the kill. shows her dominance and the fact that she owns that piece of meat and no one but she and her family has the right over it. Her eyes reflect the level of alertness which was for two reasons (1) For such a large kill (2) She had cubs around which also needed her security and protection ( the irony of the story is that one of these very same cubs which she has nurtured is going to fight with her in the coming years and maybe throw her out of this very territory which today she rules )

After a few minutes of continuous effort, she starts the process of dragging the kill, yet again and finally even the strongest and the mightiest of all , do need a break and need to recoup its strength. She then decided to take a break and sat around the kill and started biting into the meat which would provide her with much needed protein , strengthening her muscles for yet another day. Unlike a few lucky humans , the rule of the wild says “ You really need to earn your meal and it does not get served on a platter “ . She is actually smacking her lips here , indicating how much has she relished this meal.

Breaking the Myths of Kids Photography

Saurabh Pandey September 25, 2014

Your child's :

A photo session with your child, at any stage during their childhood, is like the proverbial footprint in the sand, only less cliched! It is an increasingly popular concept used by young parents across the world to convert the abstract joys and happiness of their child's early years into something similar to a piece of art or poetry which they can cherish forever. I have been helping several parents in India accomplish that in the last year. During these experiences I have come across several questions parents have about the specifics of the so-called 'photo-shoots'. I try and address a few here.

The right time:

Every day in your child's life is special, both to you and to him or her. It therefore, doesn't really matter if your child is a young newborn, a toddler who's just started walking or a 4 year old who expresses likes and dislikes. The idea is to capture expressions and activity and the only difference age makes is in how I do that. The degree of interaction and feedback will vary at different ages but the smiles, frowns, laughs - they remain the same.

Fashion and props:

What I do, and indeed this whole genre of photography has nothing to do with fashion or fashion photography. That is commercial and staged - made to sell clothes and accessories. There is no commercial aspect to your child's photoshoot. They do not pose either. If you see photographs from a fashion show or catwalk you will find models have almost no expressions on their face. This is because they are told to keep that neutral, so that buyers can concentrate on the clothes they are wearing and the bags they are carrying. When I take pictures of your child, the situation will be a complete contrast. I will encourage them and indeed you, to interact with each other and have as many expressions on their faces as possible. The clothes your child wears are important, but only to help bring harmony to the colours in the picture. The other 'props' I use are only your child's toys to engage them, sometimes a soft light source To even out light in a photograph and of course your skills in engaging the child and bring out the best smiles and look.

I attach below a picture i took recently to illustrate what I've explained. Please feel free to contact me, I would love to speak to you in person.

Why do you need a "Maternity Portfolio Shoot"

Saurabh Pandey July 1, 2014

Pregnancy is a thing of beauty, awe and is by far one of the most precious / exciting and overwhelming time in a woman's life . A pregnancy photography session is a stunning way to capture this momentous life-changing event. Maternity photos are not just about a bump , they are a way for you to celebrate the baby you are about to meet, to celebrate your current partner or family, and to celebrate the strength of your bodies . You might be unsure about it now, but if you don’t have a photography session while you’re pregnant, you've lost the chance to create once in a lifetime memories – you can’t get them back.

Photos also trigger memories, feelings, emotion which help you remember more vividly. Even if you don’t care for the memory for yourself, I can assure you that when your children are older, they will be delighted to see the photos of their pregnant mother, while they were growing inside of you.

It can be harder for a dad-to-be to bond with an unborn baby, since the baby is growing inside of you, moving inside you, having hiccups inside of you – and not him. You might feel all warm and fuzzy when those things happen, but he can’t feel it so he doesn't know how wonderful it is. But putting dad in the picture can help him bond with baby a bit more too, and it gives him some special memories of his own – aside from you yelling at him for bringing you a cheese and tomato sandwich when you asked for a cheese, cucumber and pickle sandwich!

Yes, you could just take images at home with your phone / camera, or get them done by a friend or family member. But a professional photographer can create a work of art, taking into consideration the best angles, lighting, effects, focus and depth which can totally transform what would otherwise be just a shot of you, into a story, a feeling, a work of art. Your pregnancy photographs will be graceful ,intimate and capture perfectly your excitement, apprehension and hopes for your new baby.