Photography is an art to capture any kind of life time event. Today, there are wide ranges of photographers all around the world focussing different kind of target fields with their own styles.
Among those, wild life photographers use their cameras as tools of exploration.
Lakshitha Karunarathne is a Sri Lankan Wildlife Photographer who received more than 250 international awards in the past 12 months.
He was honoured to join with the Photographic Society of America (PSA), which is one of the leading photographic Societies in the word as a leading wildlife photographer in the world.
PSA is the only society, which is publishing the top photographers list in every year.
There are six Divisions in Photographic Society of America (PSA) which, under the supervision of the Divisions Vice President and with the assistance of the Clubs, Councils and Chapters Vice President.
Divisions identify the top exhibitors, worldwide, on an annual basis through the publication of a Who's Who listing in the PSA Journal.
Six divisions are as follows.
- The Projected Image Division (PID)
- The Nature Division (ND)
- The Photojournalism Division (PJD)
- The Photo Travel Division (PTD)
- The Pictorial Print Division (PPD)
- The 3D Division (3DD)
Source: Lakshitha Karunarathne
“I was honoured to having my name in that exhibitors’ list since I had only 6 months to do that. But rest of the photographers were conducting their photography exhibitions throughout the whole year. However, in that 6 months, 511 photographs of mine were assessed and honoured in final stages” Lakshitha said.
“This is one of the most reputed and recognised photography journal and it is a great honour that they include my name in to the list and it was really challengeable.” he further stated.
Apart from that, Lakshitha also included in to the “DVF Photo Cup Index” in Europe.
DVF stands for or German Association for Photography is the prominent photography club in Germany, which was commenced in 1908.
Annually, DVF conduct a photography contest called “International Photo Cup” under four major topics such as Colour, Monochrome, Nature and Travel.
Photographers are able to submit their photographs under any topic and the administration provide points for each photo which you have submitted.
According to Lakshitha, they have 2 categories including final list and overall list and he won the 2nd place in overall list and took the 4th place in the final list.
And also he revealed that there were around 13,000 entries to the last year contest.
“On last July, I was completed my very first year for participating to photography exhibitions and in that period more than 2,000 my photographs were selected in to various international photography exhibitions.” Lakshitha told to SBS Sinhalese.
He won 72 international gold medals, 24 silver medals, 26 bronze medals and 129 other awards so far.
Among those medals and awards the most conspicuous achievement is that he won 15 gold medals in FIAP World photography contest.
Apart from that Lakshitha able to won 18 gold medals in various competitions conducted by American Photography Association and 7 gold medals in Global Photographic Union.
Source: Lakshitha Karunarathne
What are the right locations for Wildlife Photography?
“I believe, we have to start Wildlife Photography in our garden. Every garden contains suitable subjects to it.” Lakshitha expressed his idea about the correct locations for Wildlife Photography.
“My range is between tiny insect to large elephants, but I personally like to take pictures of birds and big cats such as tiger, cheetah, leopard, lion, etc. since those tasks are more challengeable.” he added.
Some countries have separate locations to Wildlife Photographers to take pictures of animals and their behaviours.
Lakshitha stated that those countries provide all the facilities to the photographers without doing any harm to the environment.
According to him, to become a Wildlife Photographer, you have to start from your garden. Then you can seek other places in your country and also overseas.
So far he travelled to England, Kenya, Scotland, Greece, Wales, Germany, Vietnam and Netherland to capture valuable and outstanding wildlife frames.
Source: Lakshitha Karunarathne
How important your knowledge about Wildlife to become a successful Wildlife Photographer?
Everybody who wants to become a photographer, they have to know the fundamental technology and techniques of the photography, he believed.
But when you come in to wildlife photography, your scope will be change if you want to go further.
“From the beginning, every Wildlife Photographer captures profile shot of any animal. But if you want to enhance your career, you have to think outside box and go beyond that. That means, you have to capture rare behaviours of those animals which people can’t see usually.” Lakshitha said to SBS Sinhalese.
For that you have to study about those animals including their habitants, eating styles, active periods, daily routines, etc.
For example, if you go to Kenya for Wildlife Photography, there are suitable time period for that.
You have to know about the great migration before you go there.
In that period, we can see lots of animals’ actions.
In Kenya, April and May are rainy season and animals can rarely see.
From July to September and January to March is the ideal period to capture animals and their actions.
“But on the other hand, we have some disadvantages in those periods as Wildlife Photographers, since thousands of visitors come in those seasons and sometimes we are unable to capture the perfect shot which we really want.” Lakshitha said.
“Therefore, I believe if you can find a time in between active and the inactive period, that would be the best time.” he added.
So, suitable time is very crucial for successful Wildlife Photography, because you have to try always to take uncommon pictures rather than the common ones.
Source: Lakshitha Karunarathne
Hobby became a profession.
“This is my hobby and sometimes, I stayed around two three hours to capture a single shot. Once you achieve it, you cannot explain that happiness. After it honoured by any international organisation, your feelings are greater than whatever in your life.” he explained the importance of the honouring Wildlife Photographers by international level.
“Once you honoured at any level, you gain more courage to do new things” he added.
