Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage, Sri Lanka

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

Worldwide | Friday, August 26, 2011 | 3 photos

Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage, Sri Lanka
One of my loves for photography came from capturing wild life. With a Sri Lankan background, elephants have always been my fascination.
Unfortunately poaching and a 30-year bloody civil war in Sri Lanka have taken a toll on the elephant population. Sama the elephant is one of the unfortunates as shown in: 'Meet Sama...'photo, losing a foot to a landmine.
For this reason the government set up an elephant orphanage in the Pinnawela district in 1975 with 25-acres of land for the elephants to be free in a safe environment. Tourists are educated firsthand by at observing elephant treatment, as shown in: '25-acres-to-be-free' photo.
Here the elephants have elephants are well taken care of and enjoy an abundance of food (on a average about 15,000kg of food is required to feed the elephants) and the watchful gaze of their keepers. As shown in: 'an-abundance-of-food' photo.

About Myself
Working as a web designer, photography started as content generation for backgrounds & stock photos.
Now fully emerged in capturing landscape, architecture and wildlife, I love to capture a moment in time for future generations to enjoy. I like to approach a subject creatively with my camera and enjoy black and white photographs. I will use any device with a camera to capture a photo.
I do my best to get out there and photograph, but it’s not easy with the lack of finance. I am hoping this opportunity will give me a chance to get out there, learn, fuel my passion and gain recognition in the world of photography and to be bold maybe within National Geographic. I adapt very quickly to my surroundings and people around me. Combined with a love and motivation to learn photography.