WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
Wildlife photographer Parag Bhatt’s stunning images pose intriguing challenges for him in the field
Parag Bhatt was bitten by the photography bug thanks to his father who had a darkroom at home where he would develop film and enlarge print, but his love for wildlife comes from his mother, who was born in Mombasa, Kenya. She would regale him with stories of how wildlife could be encountered in Kenya when travelling by road. Bhatt’s first trip to Kenya was in 1994 and marked his debut as a wildlife photographer. Since then, he has travelled across the world for the perfect wildlife shot, but Kenya remains a favourite hunting ground. “It has diversity, endless plains, dramatic skies, and beautiful sunsets and sunrises, which provide great opportunities to capture wildlife in its natural habitat,” he says. In 2023, his image of a tusker in Kenya titled ‘The Gentle Giant of Amboseli’ bagged the People’s Vote Award in the ‘Wildlife Non-Professional’ category of the reFocus Photography Awards.
Many of Bhatt’s most iconic images are on display at a group photography exhibition at The Club Mumbai, till May 11. These include photographs of a polar bear, elephants and rhinos that he shot recently. Bhatt enjoyed the unique challenges that shooting these images entailed. “For capturing the rhinos, I lay on the ground and tried to shoot when they came running towards me. It was a breathtaking sight to witness,” he says. Regarding the polar bear encounter, Bhatt says, “I was in a zodiac which was bobbing due to the choppy waters. The polar bear was diving into the water and would be lost for half a minute; it would then come up in another spot. In that time, aiming long and heavy lenses and nailing the shot when it would shake o the water was very dicult.”
If that isn’t enough, while on a shoot, Bhatt also has to contend with lugging heavy equipment, bearing extreme weather conditions and dealing with the unpredictable behaviour of wild animals. The situation in India is even more challenging. “Though safari permits are regulated, too many vehicles converge on a sighting of a tiger. Hence, photo opportunities are at best limited, and photographers come up with similar images,” he says. But, as Bhatt’s mesmerising images show, the eort is worth it.