Dear Friends wishing you a Wonderful, Joyous, meaningful and Blessed New Year.
Probably I am the only participant who is housewife that too of middle age. By this age most of people are settled in their career n life. Somehow I hate stagnation and my life has always been generous to offer me unending challenges. Well, I am an Indian woman married to Korean and now living in Korea. Since I was a child I wanted to be an Oceanographer, I struggled a lot, I collected seahorses from wild on my own, maintained n bred in captivity, I spent most of my earnings to do so. When I realized to do research on own is not a cup of tea. I started preparation, to get foreign fellowships for research. Ultimately I did PhD in Marine Biology from Japan. I got the degree but I wasn’t satisfied myself, with the work. But I had time limit of 3 years and I had no choice.
So to be a housewife wasn’t certainly that I had imagined. I was prepared to learn new language, new culture but certainly not to give up my career. It was frustrating, depressing and the most challenging period in my life I would say. After living a busy life, when I wished to have 50 hrs a day and always worried about time-limit, all of sudden staying at home, I felt a huge void in my life. I am a outdoor person, and having almost no / ltd access to good books, the only choice was left for me to go out for walk whenever time permits. Luckily, similar to Japan, Korea too has maintained green pockets . Even in hustling bustling cities you can easily take refuge to such lovely places. And let me admit, to be at home what I thought as a severe punishment, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
While in Japan, I bought my first digital point n shoot camera. I was curious about new flora around me, so started taking snaps of flowers, to get the id through my Japanese friends or books. Here in Korea too I did continue it. Initially I was focused only on plants n flowers, eventually I found I can capture bees, but capturing butterflies in wild that too with my pt n shoot camera is really challenging.
The most important thing I learnt through photography is “Patience”. Yes, without it nothing is possible in nature photography. You have to wait n wait n wait for hours sometimes even days or years to capture a single frame satisfactorily. While capturing hummingbird moth, I experienced the same, its literally like capturing a breeze. After almost 2 years, I got just a single shot that is appealing to me. But the EUREKA EUREKA EUREKA sort of moment in my life I would say, when I came to know that one of the lovely flying jewel that I had captured is nothing but Lycaena dispar, the Large copper, IUCN red listed, an endangered species of butterfly. It was really a thrilling as well as shocking experience for me. Shocking, because this small beautiful butterfly has been existing here before too, its out of my own ignorance I couldn’t notice it. And it did really change my attitude, it was wonderful and eye-opening moment for me. How ignorant I have been until now, we are surrounded by such a great treasure, and we hardly have time to look at it, forget about appreciating it, being thankful to it.
This made me to think about the photography seriously, being a very creative , HARMLESS technique that allows me to be INTIMATE with the nature. Even if I use molecular technique, I cant avoid sacrificing the specimens. For me it has been emotionally very very disturbing and depressing too.
I am very much aware, my photography technically not even in infant stage, but I am earnestly struggling to learn about it to improve it and to make it more effective. Let me admit, while taking these photographs, I hadn’t even slightest idea about this competition, I haven’t composed any frame purposely to tell a story, but while taking photographs, every time I was learning anew. It was a sort of meditation for me. It occurred me then that seeing without a VISION, is as good as being blind. And that’s why I decided to apply for this scholarship. I am very much aware about the talented work being submitted here, I don’t dare to challenge them on technical or aesthetic level. But the work I have done is reflection of my own heart, my passion for nature. Most importantly, I want to live a meaningful life. I have been thinking about meaning of life, my role in this world.
It’s a glimpse of my own journey from Head to Heart, how my perspective changed me, from a person who wanted to manipulate n recreate the nature in a test-tube to a person who realized how trivial n insignificant I am. How much we rely on the program ( as a DNA code ) that has been written- re-written and perfected by our Mother Nature for billions of years.
Indian economy is gearing up, unfortunately at the cost of our wonderful nature. This is high time; we should take some constructive steps to avoid further destruction. The only way is to reach to common people is to make them aware, to realize the fact to save ourselves we must save our Mother Nature. For me saving this wonderful nature is very very Significant. What I myself have received and receiving form Nature, is beyond explanation and imagination. I am very much aware, to be a photographer I have to go a long way. And this a small step in that long journey. I don’t want to miss this incredible chance to learn from a talented photographer who himself is dedicated to Nature.
