Cricketer's brother, Diinesh, has translated his passion photography into a coffee-table book. Says being Anil's sibling helped
Cricketer's brother, Diinesh, has translated his passion photography into a coffee-table book. Says being Anil's sibling helped
Diinesh Kumble's been on a shooting spree. The result is a coffee table book that was launched by brother Anil Kumble yesterday.
The book, Dream Safari A Pictorial Journey through Africa's Cradle of Life, is a chronicle of safaris covering Kenya and Tanzania. Shooting the Big Five in Africa elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard was one of the many highs in ace wildlife photographer Diinesh's journey.
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"Through this work, I want to share some of my experiences and joys of witnessing and photographing what can only be termed as nature's miracles," Diinesh told journalists after the launch.
But the making of a good picture means "a lot of toil, patience, and, above all, the ubiquitous factor of luck", he said.
Starting early
Diinesh developed a passion for nature and wildlife at a very young age.
He was fond of pigeons which flocked to theiru00a0 terrace. When a cat killed one of the birds, he realised that the feline's natural instincts had taken over. "That incident left an indelible impression on my mind. I began wondering how animals would live if they were not domesticated by humans," he recalled.
His experiments in photography started with a manual SLR camera which he used extensively while pursuing a masters degree in chemical engineering in the US.
Asked about his memorable moments and the challenges faced, Diinesh said, "My two trips to the wilds of eastern Africa were truly rare, joyous experiences which brought to life some of my dreams." "And coming to the challenges... Facing the customs department and carrying the equipment for wildlife photography are the greatest challenges," he said.
But penetrating the customs couldn't have been that bad ...
"Obviously, when you are a brother of a celebrity and a star like Anil, things do work in your favour," he quipped.
Diinesh said the book was only a beginning and he now wants to focus on India's wildlife. Bandipur and Nagarhole have been huge influences as regular expeditions to these places made him aware of the fundamentals of wildlife photography.u00a0 He will also soon start special workshops to help wildlife enthusiasts and promote wildlife photography.
Anil the big shot
Anil Kumble now wants to turn his attention to photography.
He has a great deal of experience, having been the team's officialu00a0 photographer, taking pictures at get-togethers, of winning moments and award functions.
Diinesh recalled how it had started for Anil. "When Anil had to go to Srinagar to play an under-17 tournament in a train, I asked him to take a camera along with him to capture the landscapes. We had a very basic Hotshot camera as we could not afford to buy an SLR or any other sophisticated camera then. After that, a camera has always been part of his cricket journey," he said.
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