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An eye for the wild
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PHOTOGRAPHY Catch wildlife photographer Ramachandra Rao’s work at an exhibition
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STORIES IN FRAMES Rao has many a tale to tell about his photographs
C. R. Rao’s passion for wildlife photography has lasted more than half a century. In 1960, he was the second Indian to become the Associate of the Royal Photographic Society (ARPS) in nature category. His nature shots have been accepted and exh
ibited in many prestigious salons across the world.
For all his achievements, Cavale Ramachandra Rao (b.1935) maintains a low profile. “Rao is a very good technician, one of the few who is fully conversant with large format as well as macro photography,” the legendary photographer (late) C. Rajagopal would say. “In his own silent way. He has been an inspiration to numerous wildlife photographers who have achieved worldwide distinction.”
Rao’s photographic journey began more than fifty years ago when he completed his diploma in cinematography and photography from S.J. Polytechnic in 1955 and subsequently got trained at the then famous Cine Laboratories and Studios, Bombay.
He had a successful stint as photographer with several public sector undertakings like LRDE (1958-62), Flight Test Division of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (1962-66), and Central Machine Tools Institute, Bangalore. In 1983, he joined the Raman Research Institute as Photographic Scientist and retired in 1995.
Rao’s passion for wildlife photography has lasted for more than five decades, and has taken him to many wildlife sanctuaries in the country as also the national parks in Kenya and Tanzania. Rao still recalls with great admiration the talks and deeds of C. Edwards, the then Dean of Bishop Cotton High School. “It was the Anglo-Indian gentleman who inspired me to take up wildlife photography in the late 1950s.”
Like any serious nature enthusiast, Rao too has many a tale to tell about his photographs. One picture shows a herd of elephants — evening light gently lighting their mammoth back, trunk and tail — receding into the forest. Rao and his friends had waited for hours near the waterhole to get a nice picture. The pachyderms did come and seemed to be happily quenching their thirst till the sound of a passing jeep disturbed the tranquility.
Among the more poignant stories Rao tells is that of a mother bird, an Indian Courser, watching over her eggs. Rao had just finished taking the picture, when he saw a snake slithering from nowhere and swallowing both the eggs to the anguish and bewilderment of the bird.
In his career, Rao has handled a variety of equipment, cameras, lenses and all. However, his allegiance for conventional film continues. He has no time or interest for digital photography. If he has to shoot, it has to be with the good old Nikon SLR and 35mm film.
For his lifelong involvement and outstanding achievement in wildlife photography, Ramachandra Rao was honoured with the E. Hanumantha Rao Memorial yesterday.
The award ceremony coincided with the inauguration of a five-day exhibition of Rao’s photographs at the ESV Hall, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Race Course Road; the exhibition concludes on October 9.
GIRIDHAR KHASNIS
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
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Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
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Thiruvananthapuram
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Visakhapatnam
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