VI VII

Long before the digital photography revolution, long before the rationale of shooting wildlife with a camera rather than a gun had become fully accepted ... there was T. N. A. Perumal. Black-and-white photography then was considered an art form, no less than the fine art of painting, forests were undisturbed and it was possible for a man like Perumal to sit for days in hides, machaans, or just quietly by a bird-stocked wetland and wait for the image to fall magically through his lens onto his camera plate.

Then, when the work of gathering images would be done, Perumal would take out his equipment and spend hour after laborious-but-meticulous hour, bathed in red light, in his developing studio. This is where the magic all came together, as the brush of sunlight and the palette of film merged to produce the masterpieces that are now contained within the covers of this book.

I have known, admired and been influenced by the ethics of Perumal for over almost four decades now. Sanctuary Asia, the magazine I edit, owes him a debt of gratitude for shining a light on the direction we eventually took. “Silence, patience, and respect for your subject are the best ingredients for wildlife photography,” I remember him telling me in Ranthambore where I met him, together with his late friend M. Y. Ghorpade. A traditionalist in terms of his values, Perumal has, however, always been an experimenter. I will never forget the brilliance of the images he shot, using interrupted infrared beams to trigger owls in mid-flight. Even today he brings nature alive in ways that only he knows.

I am honoured and delighted that he asked me to pen a few words for this book. Anyone interested in wildlife or in the art of photography should sit with him and by osmosis they will learn. And if you cannot sit with him, then sit with his images. They speak his language, which is the language of nature ... plain, simple and utterly brilliant.

Bittu Sahgal Editor, Sanctuary Asia

“... the language of nature ... plain, simple and utterly brilliant.”

Anyone interested in wildlife photography must have, in all likelihood, heard of T. N. A. Perumal. He is a photographer ‘par excellence’ and his pictures, whether pictorial, portrait or behavioural, are always technically perfect. He never fails to capture his subject with good composition, correct lighting and sharpness, giving it natural representation in its habitat.

I first met him in 1986 at Bangalore, in the house of the great Hanumantha Rao, an icon of his time in wildlife photography. Since then we have been meeting frequently, and my admiration for his depth of knowledge in the art and technology of wildlife photography has always been growing. His interest in wildlife photography was kindled by his chance meeting in 1960 with O. C. Edwards, an English schoolmaster, while walking in Bannerghatta, near Bangalore. Edwards was an early pioneer of photography in India and Perumal became his worthy pupil.

Perumal feels that “one good photograph can educate people about the environment much more than a shelf full of books.” He prefers his photographs to talk for him. He believes in the 3 Ps—Patience and Perseverance always Pays. Sometimes it takes long planning to create a ‘chance’ to capture an outstanding picture. His famous picture of the close-up of a barn owl flying with a feed for its chicks near its nest is a living example of his philosophy of the 3 Ps.

His present book with his best 252 pictures, both black-and-white and colour, will forever be a beacon of light in the field of wildlife photography.

Vivek R. Sinha, ARDS Wildlife photographer, conservationist and

author of books of his photography of tigers

A beacon of light in the field of wildlife photography

Preface 2

Acknowledgements 5

Reminiscences of a Wildlife Photographer 9

Pictorial Photography 57

Nature Photography—Black-and-white 69

Nature Photography—Colour 155

Notes to Pictures 306

List of Digital Pictures 317

Nature Photography in India: Past and Present 319

T. N. A. Perumal: Profile in brief 326

Contents

I have known Mr Perumal for over 33 years. We met by chance at Bannergatta which is about 12 miles from Bangalore. He had a gun in one hand and a bird, which he had shot, in the other. I was carrying a camera. I understood his shikaree’s urge quite well since I myself had used both shot-gun and rifle before laying these down to take up the camera for wild-life photography. He greeted me with, “You are Mr. Edwards?”, and it sounded almost like the famous words, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”. After this we met frequently and went out to photograph wild-life. His shikaree’s instinct began to be satisfied with and replaced by wild-life photography. At this he made rapid progress. Mr. Perumal is a mild-mannered man yet one who possesses the qualities which make for success. He is his own stern critic and is not easily satisfied with photographs which might pass muster with the less critical. His developing and enlarging technique kept pace with his improvement in tackling wild subjects. He gave up his job as radio engineer, and was employed by Mr M. Y. Ghorpade of Sandur as chief photographer of his “The Sandur Manganese and Iron Ores Ltd.” As

Mr Ghorpade himself is an FRPS and a very keen and accomplished wild-life photographer, Mr Perumal, in his company, has had the opportunity of seeing and photographing many wild animals both in India and in Africa. Thus he has an impressive collection of wild-life photographs of mammals and birds, and also a fine collection of colour slides.

He has been exhibiting his work both in India and abroad in international exhibitions with much success. He has won numerous awards and certificates of merit.

Mr Perumal is in demand by organisers of exhibitions in India as a judge for the Nature Section.

His superb pictures of the Indian Great Horned-Owl were taken with electronic flash synchronised with the camera shutter and activated by the bird breaking a ray of connecting light. This device was of his own making.

His distinctions: AFIAP in 1963, EFIAP in 1968, ARPS in 1978, FRPS in 1979.

He is his own stern critic ...

—An Appreciation by O. C. Edwards ARPS, EFIAP, pioneer bird photographer of India, on the occasion of a “One-Man-Show of Wild-Life and Nature Photographs from India and Africa by T. N. A. Perumal,” organised by A. P. Photographic Society and Max Mueller Bhavan Hyderabad in 1980.

2 3

Sharing the journeyI have visited fascinating forests and jungles, swamps and sanctuaries, across India. I have even been fortunate enough to go on a photo safari in East Africa. Wildlife photography rewards the patient photographer with exhilarating moments and memories, often set in magical environments. I have had many. For years, my family and friends have been trying to persuade me to record my experiences and their natural outcome—photographs—in a book. Their consistent encouragement has given gave me the confidence to overcome my trepidation and bring out this book of my life’s work.

The rationale of ‘Reminiscences’The task of selecting photographs seemed intimidating. Having a rationale to guide the selection helped (it also gave a logical flow to the book).

For a brief while, early in my career, I was interested in pictorial photography. Some of my work in this genre makes its appearance in the first section of this book. The two following sections feature the results of my lifelong passion: wildlife and nature photography. I have experience in all three mediums of photography—conventional black-and-white, colour transparency and digital. So I have selected photographs that seem to best represent my work in each, under the broader categories of black-and-white and colour.

I share the rich experiences my career choices have gifted me in an initial essay. My thoughts on the changing nature of nature photography in India, a practical guide to wildlife photography and notes on some selected photographs appear at the end of the book.

There are many people who have contributed to, and vastly enriched, my journey as a photographer. They are gratefully remembered on the following page.

I hope going through this book gives you some of the joy that creating it has given me.

“Some unknown, unseen forces direct one’s life, Perumal,” were the words of my esteemed friend and mentor, the late Shri M. Y. Ghorpade of Sandur. How true! It is my firm belief that the good deeds of my parents and the benevolent directions of our family deity—Angalaparameshwari of Thiruppazhanam, Thanjavur—have been watching over me and have directed many friends and well-wishers to touch my life.

From a traumatic start to an enriching new life I have no recollection of seeing my mother. She delivered me into this world and left me when I was ten months old. I lost my father to meningitis when I was in school. Turmoil and helplessness followed, days filled with fear of penury and relentless family tensions and squabbles.

My hobbies—radio, electronics, reading, wildlife and shikar literature, to name a few—were passports to a new world; one that exposed me to mentors, friends and new situations ... As I have said in my essay, later in this book, “a new chapter opened for me, which has been an eventful one filled with travel and enriching wildlife and photographic experiences”.

Evolution: from gun to cameraI was introduced to the discipline and intricacies of target shooting. As a rifleman, I made forays into forest and jungle with shooting of one kind in mind. Thankfully, my shikar days and experiences were limited. I soon exchanged gun for camera and embarked on more enlightened adventures. I must say, however, that my short stint as a hunter, when I studied wildlife at close quarters, gave me a valuable understanding of animal and bird behaviour, body language, habits and vocalisations. This knowledge has served me well in my career as a photographer.

Preface

8 Reminiscences of a Wildlife Photographer 9

Reminiscences of a Wildlife Photographer

PHOTOGRAPHY has always enthralled me. Clicking pictures of scenery, friends, relatives and animals with borrowed Kodak Baby Brownie, 120 Box Brownie or folding pocket bellows cameras gave me immense joy and a proud sense of capturing memorable images. This hobby is a natural extension of my early penchant for drawing during my school days.

All things mechanical, electrical and electronic fascinated me. ‘Popular Mechanics’ was a big influence on my choice of hobbies. In school, I won prizes in the hobby section for a model house with streetlights powered by a battery and a flying model of a fighter plane made of thin cardboard, rubber band and propeller carved out of light wood. Coincidentally the prize was the classic: Around the World in Eighty Days. Evening bazaar in K. R. Market, which used to be flooded with post-World War II U. S. Army disposal electronic gadgets, was my favourite haunt. All my pocket money (the princely sum of four annas a week) was spent on collecting gadgets for my experiments in radio and electronics. Assembling a crystal radio and other electronic gadgets occupied my mind. Words cannot describe my excitement when I successfully assembled a valve radio receiving signals from Radio Australia—and I could hear the laugh of the kookaburra, Voice of America and Big Ben of BBC crackling in my set.

Natural history books, shikar classics and true-life adventure stories were another source of endless fascination. They were my favourite reading, transporting me into a world of jungles and wild

animals. Later, this world would become a reality. I have wandered through such environments, in Bannerghatta and elsewhere, in the company of people like my good friend Nanjegowda, the Shikari of Sampigehalli, or my staunch friend, philosopher, guide and fellow-photographer, Y. Upendra.

One has to celebrate the magic and mystery of the forest atmosphere. I have marvelled at red wattled lapwings on an aerial sortie, giving their agitated did-he-do-it calls, warning of an intruder. Words cannot do justice to the elation one feels walking through the familiar incessant drizzle that defines a forest in the monsoon season, listening to the soothing sounds of water dripping from wet branches to the leafy forest floor beneath. Nor can I describe the happiness I feel at hearing forest symphonies like those of the bulbuls—red vented, white browed and red whiskered—as they flit from one patch of forest cover to another. The lively cackling calls of grey partridges emerging from the fields around the forest will always symbolise the spirit of countryside and forest to me. The forest represents so much, and is represented by so many … and I’ve not even come to the impact that its animal inhabitants have had on me.

My love of photography, reading and the outdoors—in combination with my love for things mechanical—has shaped my thoughts, my choices and my career. It has given me a lifetime of experiences and memories, some of which I share with you in the following pages …

My very first bird photograph (1960) Oriental White-Eye at nest

In the early years of its existence, the world-renowned Mysore Photographic Society of Bangalore counted more pictorial photographers than nature enthusiasts in its membership. This was not the case for long. The reason for the reverse trend—a preference for nature / wildlife photography—was because the parameters of pictorial photography are ill-defined and very subjective.

In nature photography, the parameters are clear: the subject has to be nature and no manipulation is permitted. Truthful statement is the most important criteria. In pictorial photography, the subject can be animate or inanimate; it is its treatment, one’s personal expression and vision that is important. Of course, nature can be pictorial.

The following pages cover a selection of my work as a pictorialist; a brief interest that was soon replaced by a lifelong fascination with nature / wildlife photography. I must add that my early attempts at pictorial photography were at the insistence of the great stalwart in pictorial photography, the late C. Rajagopal, who was eager that I explore the genre.

Pictorial Photography

58 59

Moon and owl (superimposed)

Kalkere, Bannerghatta, Bangalore, Karnataka.

Pair of Green bee-eaters perched on Calotropis plant

in a pictorial composition

Merops orientalis

Thiruvadavur, Madurai, Tamil Nadu.

Photographs&Black white

78 79

Wild buffalos Bubalus bubalis Kaziranga, Assam

Gaur Bos frontalis Nagarahole Wildlife Sanctuary, Karnataka.

Colour PhotographsAnalog and Digital

192 193

Nilgiri tahr mother and kid Hermitragus hylocrius Rajamalai, Eravikulam National Park, Munnar, Kerala.

Nilgiri tahr mother and kid

Hermitragus hylocrius

Rajamalai, Eravikulam

National Park, Munnar, Kerala.

200 201

Common langur

Semnopithecus entellus

Bandipur National Park, Karnataka.

Indian antelopes or blackbucks sparring Antelope cervicapra Maidenahalli Blackbuck Reserve, Karnataka.

238 239

Medium egret landing Mesophoyx intermedia Ranthambore, Rajasthan.

Common kestrel (female) Falco tinnunculus Hesarghatta, Bangalore, Karnataka.