Up Close And Personal: Sidharth & Madhushree Birla’s Love Affair With The Wild
Three years back, this couple found their passion for photography uncover its muse, to be endured for a lifetime. Travelling to the ‘endless plain’, the sight of the wild is rare and majestic, captured at its very best by the duo and showcased in the heart of the capital.
Sidharth and Madhushree Birla, the passionate shutterbugs took a trip five years back to Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania bringing back, what they term- stark beauty, the orderliness of nature, power, elegance and majesty of both the hunter and the hunted.
Every picture has a story to tell. It is not a everyday sight to see the jungle king’s ferocity turning into protective vigilance for its pride, thousands of flamingoes during sunset contrasting the Zebra stripes in the corner, the glazing red blood on the mouth of tiger as he finishes off his meal and spectacular annual migration of over a million wildebeest and thousands of gazellas travelling across the vast tracts of land, as the season changes.
“Our love affair with Serengeti began in 2012 and will endure a lifetime.We call ourselves advanced amateurs. My photography love started back in late the 70s and there has been no looking back since then,” said Sidharth with scintillating eyes every time he begins to narrate the story behind each shot.
Some of the shots, as Sidharth explained were captured after 1-2 hours of time lag, to catch the perfect moment with some shots being shot out of sheer luck. While Sidharth’s photographic approach leans towards zooming in on subjects, bringing you up close to magnificent animals, Madhushree has her own techniques focussing mostly on motion blur.
Derived from a Maasai word that depicts “endless pain”, the Serengeti probably holds the largest Lion population in Africa- more than 3000. Leopards and Cheetahs number at least 1000 each and the Elephants 5000. The beauty in the wilderness of Tanzania’s landscape provides the natural colour palette for each ‘click’.
The place also happens to be home to the spectacular annual migration, when over 10,00,000 wildebeest, 200000 zebra and thousands of gazelles and other travel across vast tracts of land, as the season change. They follow the short rains in October to November from the northern hills to the southern plains, then after the long rains in April to June, they head west through central Serengeti to Grumeti and back to Massai Mara in Kenya. The couple planned their visits during the season to witness these animals up close.
“We hope you will enjoy our modest tribute to the enchantment and we hope to bring you more. No matter how many times we go back to the Serengeti, for us, its charms will never diminish,” added Sidharth, prepping up for the next adventure in the wild.
