there was a time when photographers in coimbatore would step into the forests and spend their weekends in the wilderness to get those perfect shots now these shutterbugs are not only pursuing wildlife photography as a hobby but are also winning laurels for the same on world photography day ct spoke to a few photographers to find out what makes wildlife photography click for themthe beginningsi used to go on treks quite often and spend a lot of time in the jungles i was captivated by the beauty around and soon decided to capture them in the camera this was 13 years ago and since then there was no looking back i started as a weekend photographer and soon started pursuing it as a fulltime says awardwinning photographer prakash ramakrishnan for photographer vignesh balaji it was a gift that triggered his interest in photography i got married in 2011 and i got slr as a gift since i had a camera in hand i decided to put the equipment to good use i used to visit hilly areas with a bunch of people and observe birds and animals in the wilderness thats when i met a person who had a common interest in nature and photography together we explored many places in the forests we also visited lakes and ponds in the city and learn about them soon i started pursuing wildlife photography in a big way my interest was in birds as they were easier to spot than animals macro photographer karthikeyan shanmugasundram winner of natures best photography asia small world 2017 says that he wanted to focus on a different world that people usually do not observe its been seven years as a macro photographer and my wish is to capture as many spiders as i can which are easily ignored as opposed to the colourful insects like bugschallenges in wildlife photographythe biggest challenge is that one needs a lot of patience you might see pugmarks but will have to wait for a long time to see a tiger there will be times when you wont spot any animal says ramakrishnan the uncertainty in this photography is a huge deterrent for many animals will not really present themselves in the middle of the road where they can be photographed one needs to be attentive all the time lighting is also a major factor in this photography you might have travelled two and a half hours before you spot an animal but the animal might be sitting in the darkness your camera needs to be ready at that time you might have to make repeated visits to get the right picture says vignesh balajicoimbatore and wildlife photographywhen quizzed why coimbatoreans are increasingly taking to wildlife photography ramakrishnan replies its the proximity to forests after all we live in the foothills of valparai ooty and munnar for people living in cities like chennai this would turn out to be a difficult hobby to pursue seconding him is ajai ramamoorthy founder