Camera wielding poachers

[Aditya Panda]

Found this on a popular wildlife photo sharing website. Wonder when Indian wildlife photographers will stop acting like poachers. To me such action is akin the 'unsportly' shikaris of the days of the Raj- wildlife photographers of today can be similarly classified.

http://www.indianaturewatch.net/disp...e.php?id=85736

Your views please.

Regards,
Aditya

[Vikram Nanjappa]

This is disgraceful behavior. Less said about mutual back scratching photo sharing sites the better. Indiawilds need to take care that it does not degenerate into one.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Officially I don't want to comment on any site or discuss what is happening there, as I believe people running those sites should know what they are doing.

However, I can't stop wondering as to what people achieve by such acts and photographs. It is like the warden of a Nazi gas chamber pushing its inmates and documenting that scene in a camera. Do you think it can ever be art?

There are enough people harming and killing wildlife. I don't think photographers should indulge in such abominable behaviour. What do you get by restraining an animal and provoking it to snarl or growl? Unfortunately, most of the photographers - from the film days as well as the digital generation - have absolutely no ethical considerations. Photos of captive animals are routinely showcased by these photographers as photos taken in the wild.

In IndiaWilds we want to show case the beauty of India's wilds and its denizens. Our photos should arouse positive emotions, should generate awe, reverence and love for our wildlife.

We are honest and will remain honest with our thoughts, actions and photography. When we upload photograph, let us remember to mention the amount of crop, cloning and image manipulations, if any. It is always beneficial to spend more time in the wild rather than infront of your computer doing post processing.

Let me assure you that we wont indulge in any cheap antics to generate popularity. We strive to provide honest critiques for photographs and help people in improving their skills. I believe unless and untill you are at the pinnacle of your abilities, you won't be able to generate positive emotions through your photographs. So rest assured that there won't be any mutual backscratching, rather some frank and honest feedback.