New Delhi: Sumit Suresh Shaw clicking photographs of all species of Kingfisher (found in India). He was born on July 8, 1979 in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Kingfishers are his passion, he captured his first kingfisher near a lake around his house, and he fall in love with its colors. He was amazed by their speed of fishing and what makes them successful fishing demons. India boasts 12 species of kingfishers spread across the country. Each one of them has spectacular colors and beauty. He wanted to bring them together to one single collage for people and kids to appreciate, learn, and help conserve. It took him 9 months from March 2018 to Nov 2018 to capture all 12 species of Kingfishers.
“Blyth’s Kingfisher was the rarest capture. He had to travel to Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh. He landed in Guwahati and went via road for almost 12 hours to reach Pakke. Next, morning by 4 am we started looking for Blyth’s Kingfisher and his bird guide Papu, Khagen, and Ohay Tayem local bird guide from Nyishi Tribe. It was a complicated stream which was slippery and thriving with leeches. It took him almost 7.5 hours on that hot and humid day to finally capture Blyth’s Kingfisher, which was recognized as one of the best captures of this rare and threatened species and won many photography awards.
Sumit told that “Ruddy Kingfisher has been the toughest bird to capture, and sighting is not easy without local avian experts. I traveled twice to Gorumara National park in West Bengal to capture Ruddy Kingfisher. Still, I failed as the bird was too shy to get me to pose. Finally, I had to travel to Andaman & Nicobar Islands to capture Ruddy Kingfisher.”
Family is the only Entity who will be happier than you as there exists an unconditional love that we share with them. His wife Namrata and 6yrs old son Sunay Shaw was his greatest source of inspiration as they extended unconditional support in making this record happen.
Sumit’s mentor is Dr. Sudhir Hasamnis, who has been rooting for his record. Special mention for his friends Vinay Singh, Jimpi Salhotra, for being the pillar of support.”
Everything flashes before your eyes, the entire journey of Sumit, his present moment and he suddenly realise that all that effort has got a meaning with this recognition.
He learnt a lot during his travels across India and he believe that every indian should do that to experience diversity of cultures, food and most importantly wildlife. Our future lies in the hands of kids and if we educate them about nature and its importance they will be better guardians.
