"High Court Advocate and ex Member of Parliament, Adhik Shirodkar has a host of credits to his name. But this gentle unassuming man’s long time passion for photography – more specifically wildlife photography – is what really gets him animated. "
Shirodkar received his first camera as a wedding present in 1952. In those days, he reminisces, “ there was no colour film and purchasing and developing each contact print used to be prohibitive for most. I used to shoot one roll over 6 months and carefully choose the one or two images I would get developed.”
Shooting a variety of subjects, he was drawn into wildlife photography only after his first trip to Bharatpur. With zero knowledge of wildlife, he was soon captivated with capturing nature on film and had his first exhibition in 1982. His love of the environment even led him to be a member of the 111 Environment Committee and was instrumental in deploying the Navy in a large scale clean up effort of Bharatpur.
From then on, the years flew by and Shirodkar was a regular on the exhibition circuit all over the country. He is vocal about the degradation of the environment that he has witnessed first hand over the years and the sorry state of the flora and fauna in our national parks today. Favourite subjects apart from birds that are, he claims, “magnificent” are cheetahs, leopards, and tigers. But in the end, one has to shoot for one’s own self, he states and his latest exhibition at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai in March will stand testament to this fact. He is planning on displaying nearly 60 images shot over the past few years from his travels both in India and Africa.
He was recently witness to the majesty that is the migration of the wildebeest in Africa, which moved him tremendously. “Animals and nature make you realize how insignificant you are in the greater scheme of things. There can no longer be a fixation on the “I” and one feels humbled before such greatness.”
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