Balan Madhavan - Trivandrum, Kerala

Insect: Dragonfly

I am a strong believer of the school that a photograph does not replace a thousand words, instead, what an image does is “evoke emotions” in the viewers mind. It is this emotional aspect that attracts the viewer’s attention and makes the picture communicate. In short, it is art and art only.

Challenge:

Ripples and reflections. Though a dragonfly image could have been shot in your backyard pool, I had to travel to the other side of the world to capture this one. I was part of the RAVE, which stands for Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition’. It is a unique project of the ILCP- ‘The International League of Conservation Photographers, in Southern Mexico in which around a dozen of the world’s leading conservation photographers were invited to document the unique biological diversity of the Yucatan region. On a free day in the Calakmul Bio reserve where I was documenting how nature reclaimed the abandoned Mayan pyramids, I was watching dragonflies moving around by the side of a pond. It began drizzling suddenly, and the drops created amazing patterns on the surface of the pond. I saw a bare twig, so I waited for the dragonfly to land on it. What I got was this image. The reflections of the insect and the twig were quite dramatic. The water drops added the spice to the image. One of my favourites, for its simplicity and artistic merit. The fact is that good nature photography is not about very sharp and focussed images of rare birds or animals shot in a common way; but its visual poetry where even ordinary subjects become objects of excitement.

Equipment:

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 7D bodies

Lenses: 17mm TS, 24mm TS, 24 – 85 zoom, 100 Micro, 100 – 400 zoom and 300mm f/2.8