The Wildlife India Forum 2017—A Day Unlike Any Other!

K Madhavan Pillai, Chief Editor, Better Photography, welcomes the guests to the Wildlife India Forum 2017.

Better Photography’s Wildlife India Forum 2017 presented by Toehold and Panasonic was a day unlike any other. It saw some of the biggest names in wildlife photography come together and speak about wildlife, photography, conservation and how they come together.

The day began with K Madhavan Pillai, Chief Editor, Better Photography, welcoming everyone to the Forum. After which Puneet Chadha, Director – Marketing – Asia Pacific & Japan, Hewlett Packard Inc. delivered an engaging keynote address on HP’s commitment to providing unique printing solutions to help photographers communicate and present their work.

Mr. Puneet Chadha, Director – Marketing, Asia Pacific & Japan, Hewlett Packard Inc at the Wildlife India Forum 2017.

Nayan Khanolkar, a recent World Press Photo Awards winner (Second Prize, Nature category) was the first in the line up of speakers. He detailed an enlightening, engaging talk about his time researching, documenting and photographing the leopard-man conflict in Mumbai.

Nayan Khanolkar presents his work at WIF 2017

Next came on Jayanth Sharma, the CEO and Co-founder of Toehold, one of the title sponsors and biggest supporters of the Wildlife India Forum. Jayanth’s incredible images and talk conveyed his love for wildlife and photography and how photography can help draw attention to the beauty that wildlife and nature has to offer.

Jayanth Sharma speaks at the event.

Following Jayanth was Rathika Ramasamy, who presented her journey and beginnings with wildlife and conservation photography. Rathika spoke with a passion about her affinity towards documenting birds and their behaviour.

Rathika Ramasamy talks about how her journey with wildlife photography began.

After Rathika, Feisal Malik, representing the Kenyan Tourism Board came on stage and presenting his work documenting the wildlife and their conservation in Kenya. As a filmmaker and producer, Feisal tackles the issues of encroachment with a particular interest in loss of elephant population, the effort to protect and conserve them in Kenya.

Feisal Malik speaks about his work on his conservation in Kenya.

Sandesh Kadur was next at the podium, where he discussed his incredible journey as a wildlife photographer. Sandesh’s documentary and images of the Western Ghats resulted in them being declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sandesh Kadur at the event.

The last speaker at the event was prolific photographer Dhritiman Mukherjee. K Madhavan Pillai sat down in an entertaining and engaging conversation with him about his recent trip to Arctic Russia photographing something.

Dhritiman Mukherjee and K Madhavan Pillai on stage.

Once the talks concluded, it was time to unveil ‘Moments from the Wild’ an exclusive photobook featuring some of the biggest names in wildlife photography. This book has been printed on HP’s Indigo 10000 Digital Press in Glo Colour Labs. All proceeds from the book will be going to a wildlife conservation society, which will be announced soon.

From L-R: Sandesh Kadur, Puneeh Chadha, Director – Marketing, HP Asia Pacific & Japan, Nayan Khanolkar, Dhritiman Mukherjee, Rathika Ramasamy, Jayanth Sharma and K Madhavan Pillai unveil the book on stage.

Soon began the much-awaited announcement of the winners of the Wildlife India Photography Awards 2017! From the Open Category, Shabeer Thurakkal a resident of Kerala won out of almost 7000 entries from around the country.

Shabeer Thurakkal’s winning image from the WIldlife India Photography Awards (Open category) at the Wildlife India Forum

Pratik Pradhan, a 23-year-old resident of Mumbai won the Emerging Photographer of the Year Award in the Wildlife India Photography Awards 2017! Both winners receive the opprtunity to attend an all-expenses paid Wildlife Photography Masterclass in Kenya, courtesy the Kenya Tourism Board.

From L-R Kedar Bhat (Judge-first round), Dhritiman Mukherjee (Judge-final round), Pratik Pradhan, Nayan Khanolkar (Judge-final round), Kedar Bhide (Judge-first round).

The forum ended with a session by Sandesh Kadur, a Panasonic mentor and Hitesh Vig, National Product Trainer, Panasonic on how Pansonic can help wildlife photographers realise their vision on the field.

Sandesh Kadur and Hitesh Vig, National Product Trainer Panasonic take the stage.