The monsoon has settled and the winter is drawing in. The morning mist starts rising, the water bodies are full and the rutting season for Barasingha has begun. This is how Diinesh Kumble, Bengaluru-based wildlife photographer and brother of former cricketer Anil Kumble describes the setting at Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh.
He has just returned from a photo tour at the national park and explains that December is a very conducive season for wildlife photographers to capture nature’s paradigm shift in the grassland region of the Kanha Tiger Reserve.
“Kanha is a park with meadows and grasslands and a sal forest. Barasingha’s antlers appear decorated with the rising mist in the background. This is also the season for tigers to walk during the winter and we experienced some fantastic tiger sightings. We got a once-in-a-lifetime shot with the tigress in the meadows along with the sun setting in the backdrop,” says Kumble, who loves travelling solo. “I can sit all day long near a water hole and do just nothing,” he adds.
Kumble believes that wildlife photography has witnessed a tectonic shift after the pandemic with travellers pursuing local tours and adopting smartphone photography.
“With smartphone photography, a lot of photographers are shooting very close to the animals which is a dangerous trend. On the other hand, people have realised that the local ecosystem holds a lot more diverse species of animals which is forcing them to explore the biodiversity spread within the state of Karnataka,” says Kumble, who cites his encounter with an elephant in an open jeep in Bandipur, that threw a stick at him, which was an unforgettable wildlife safari.
Interestingly, Kumble was initially duped in the USA, following the purchase of his first Yashica camera, an SLR. Recalling his trigger point for pursuing wildlife photography, Kumble says, “I bought my first secondhand SLR camera from an Italian store in the ‘90s during my engineering course in the USA. However, when the camera failed to work, I ripped it apart to study the device completely and taught myself the art of photography.
Meanwhile, my interest in wildlife ignited when I saw my pet cat finish off the pet birds in my home. I realised everything in this world is wild. However, my passion for wildlife photography re-kindled only in 2003 when I travelled to South Africa for my work purpose, just before the cricket world cup,” says Kumble, who has also taught some basic photography skills to his younger sibling, Anil.
Recalling his best photo tour with Anil, Kumble says, “Pench National Park, in Madhya Pradesh, was a great experience with him. However, it’s been at least five years since we have travelled together. Thanks to the IPL and other stuff, we haven’t been able to,” says Kumble, who also loves sports and biking.
Kumble also owns a publishing and production company called Krab Media and Marketing, under which he has launched Kaadoo (meaning forest), a set of wildlife theme-based board games for children above 5 years. Recently, after the pandemic, he added two more games called Night Fire and Zoodoo that are centred around forest officers, poachers and is a game of saving animals from a storm.