photography – Trickles of Tales

Birds can do what human beings can only imagine – fly. Besides, nature has endowed them with quaint features, contrasting colours and singing tunes that fascinate our eyes and ears. Yet common birds and their interesting ways do not quite get the attention that they deserve. I did not care to see them either until recently I became interested in photography and captured them in my camera.

While photographing birds, my eyes opened to their joyous ways of flying from one branch to another. Taking off needs w.efforts and birds flutter their wings, but going some distance, they glide, using the momentum and again work their wings to reach the destination. Sparrows, sunbirds, black drangos, silverbills and green bee-eaters perch on the branches for a short moment of rest. It is in those short whiles that I direct my camera, focus on them and quickly press the shutter, or else they would quickly move to another place and disappear. But interestingly, they would return to the same place after some time. So I stand there with my camera, waiting patiently, ready for a click.

Birds love open spaces in the jungles where they fly from one place to another, unhindered. It is here that they spend time and engage in conversations with each other, settling atop or on the branches of the trees. These are also the moments when snapping them results in sharp images, leaving the background blurred.

Birds build their nests and take care of their young ones in cozy homes. I often see them carry straws to build their nests or grub in their bills to feed their young ones. Multiple sorties are undertaken to collect enough materials for their cozy nests or food for the chicks.

What is near and common is often ignored as if all interesting things have to be exotic and happen only at a distance. But doing photography, I discovered that looked at closely, common birds are amazing subjects for pictures. Chirping of birds is pleasing to our ear and indicates their presence in an area. Whenever I pass by the woods and hear birdsongs, I pause for a moment and take a look at them. Their existence confirms that the environment around us is healthy and life goes on around us, whether we see it or not.

I would do it invariably every morning whenever I go home to Maynaguri – be it a day in summer or winter or a day in the rainy season. It is a walk through the path that leads from my home to a nearby village, which takes just a little more than half an hour.

The pathway has on its both sides agricultural fields, ponds, clumps of bamboo, plantations of sal and teak, and hamlets draped in thick foliage of banana, betel vines and all kinds of trees.

Nature assumes wide variety of forms and colour in different seasons, changing from lush green during the rains to golden in winter with paddy covering the fields. My passion for photography only pushes me to go along this path, looking for a scene or a moment to capture in my mobile phone camera.

The people living in the hamlets do not only know me but also have known my parents and grandparents. In villages, people know each other for generations. Now I live in Hyderabad and can visit home only once a year.

Thus, when I come across an acquaintance, they would naturally smile and ask, ‘Oh, you have come.’
‘Yes, yesterday,’ I would say.
‘For how many days?’
‘Seven days.’
‘Only seven days?’
‘You’re now an officer, doing an important job. You must be a busy man now.’
‘But you’re free,’ I would say. ‘You don’t need anyone’s permission to go anywhere.’
‘So how many more years will you be there?’
‘Still more than ten years.’
‘You’ll be old by then.’
…

I break into a conversation and ask about their well-being and then take leave. To be recognised on the road by people is a privilege I do not have in Hyderabad.

Again, I tramp and look for something special to feast my eyes on and capture in my camera. Water lilies flower in the pond after it gets filled with water after the rains. In the autumn just before Durga puja, Kash phool (Kans Grass) adorns the fields with their white chiffon like flowers. Bengalis have a deep emotional connect with Kash phool as it heralds the festive season. I look at the flowers for a while and judge the spot and angle for capturing them in my camera.

But then there would be a moment which I need to capture immediately, or else the moment would be gone and opportunity missed. In the rainy season, it rains incessantly all day in North Bengal, leaving brief interludes when it would be drizzling.

I go out with an umbrella. As rivers and ponds overflow, fish comes with the flood to the agricultural fields. In those interludes between spells of rains, people come out with nets and fishing rods to catch fish in the streams and the paddy fields with knee deep water. I quickly position myself and take snaps for my recollection of the visit later or a Facebook post for my friends to enjoy the beauty of life in my native place.

After a brief stay at home, I have to return to Hyderabad. I have to wait for a year or so for this pathway to appear in a new form. But what I see year after year and season after season go into my mind’s album, and all the talk I have with people and snaps I get from the walk become a part of my lasting memories.

Tag: photography

Birdwatching with Photography

A Walk for Talk and Snaps