While many say we don't need a specific day to celebrate women, very few believe in it. Today, we are celebrating women who broke the shackles of the society and brave all the stares in order to make a place for themselves in an industry which was mostly ruled by men. MUSBA HASHMI chats up AISHWARYA Sridhar and ANEGA BAWA about their journeys to capturing the world

She faced stares dangerous than forest
Aishwarya Sridhar

(Canon EOS Influencer)

Most of us might have wondered how those tourist guides on the jungle safaris identify a tiger or tigress and remember their names so precisely. It is definitely nothing short of a mystery for many.

However, the answer is quite simple. One can easily differentiate between two tigers by examining their stripes. No two tigers can have the same pattern. It is just as unique as the fingerprints of human  beings. Interesting enough? Get ready for some more. Did you know that flamingos feed with their head and beak upside down? The reason is this way they filter the water and then eat the planktons.

All these facts and much more is what excites Mumbai-based Aishwarya Sridhar, the first Indian woman to win Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

However, it was not as if it happened out of the blue, Sridhar since she was merely 10 years old, loved watching the birds and animals in her backyard. Her love for the Nature couldn’t be left hidden from her father who decided to giver her a camera as soon as she turned 11. This, further fed her love towards animals and in return for wildlife photography.

“Initially, it wasn’t wildlife photography for me. It was more about observing animals and birds. My father is a member of Bombay Natural History Society and I went on a lot of wildlife treks with him. That kindled my interest. After a few  years, I realised that I have to document this experience on  a permanent basis and photography was the natural option to go with. This, coupled with getting a camera as a birthday gift ignited my love for the field even more. It became a part of me and also my favourite toy,” Sridhar tells you.

Unlike many people, Sridhar doesn’t have to convince her parents about her career choice. In fact, they knew it even before she did.

“My parents have always been supportive of my choice of profession. Initially, they thought of me doing a 9 to 5 job, but soon after I realised that I am an outdoor person and might not be able to do justice to the job. So, I thought might as well turn my passion into profession and they were happy of my decision,” she says.

It’s been 10 years since Sridhar has been into this profession, but luckily she can’t recall a single event of being charged by an animal even when she was on foot near an elephant. However, the even dangerous situation, she says, is to receive stares from people questioning the existence of a woman into a profession that they think is a man’s job.

Not that, these stares were ever able to demotivate her. Instead, it boosted her confidence and made her feel special. “I took these stares as a compliment. I feel proud being one of the few women in this field. I feel happy that I am doing something different,” she says.

One might wonder how is to experience a forest and meet its residents, Sridhar sums it up in one word — beautiful.

The sheer beauty of the forest, she says, takes you there again and again. But, when you are a wildlife photographer, your job demands you to do much more than just experience the serenity. You have to be patient and responsible, no matter how excited you are.

“The moment I see an animal, I take out my camera. This has become a reflex now. But in between all this, I don’t forget my responsibility. We have to respect the animal’s space and it will reciprocate the same,” she says.

While it has been said over a thousand times, Sridhar just echoes all this advice and tells you the most important trait of a wildlife photographer is patience. “I have spent over seven years in following and filming Maya, the tigress in Jim Corbett. She has grown up in front of my eyes. One can imagine the amount of patience it would have required. There were times when frustration hit me right in my face, but I knew it happens and how to tide over it. And, all this patience has paid off and my documentary on her is ready to release,” she says.

The fact that attracted Sridhar to filming Maya, she says, is that she hasn’t been filmed yet. Besides, it is interesting to observe the behaviour of a tiger, how she behaves with her cubs and with other males of the group.

The breathtaking photos hasn’t just earned her the first Indian woman to win Wildlife Photographer of the Year, but also become Canon EOS Influencer last year. The title came when her work went viral on social media and people started following her work.

And now, if you are wondering how many pictures has she clicked till date, she doesn’t have a count of them. May be in thousands or even more.

This is not all. There is much more in her kitty. Her first documentary Panje The Last Wetland was telecasted on DD National and the second Queen of Taru was awarded at the 9th Wildlife Conservation Film Festival, New York. Above all, she has also received the Woman Icon Award 2019 in the Media category for using photography in conservation and the Diana Award 2019 which is given to young change makers aged nine-25 by the Royal House, London. If this was not enough, she has also been a TEDx speaker and is a Global Goodwill Ambassador.

However, if you ever got a chance to speak to her, her charming voice will not give you even a slightest of hint of the fierceness that she beholds and the change that she has been trying to bring in the society by encouraging women to step in to the “so-called” man-dominated fields.

Innocence captured

Anega Bawa

(Canon Eos Maestro)

You love clicking pictures and one day decide to enroll yourself in a reputed professional institute. You show them their your portfolio and the voice from the other side, who is a senior photographer, tells you: These pictures are useless, you don’t have any idea of the art and that you can never be a photographer.

It goes without saying these words will be more than enough to make you put aside your camera only to never pick it up again. However, 36-year-old Gurugram-based Anega Bawa’s strong will didn’t allow her to stay away from her love — camera — for more than eight months.

One of the most treasured maternity, newborn and baby photographer, Bawa loved photography since a young age, however the professional bent came only in 2012 when she was pregnant.

“I love handling newborns and that is why I took up this genre. I started it when my daughter Akira was born. It all began with clicking even the small moments of joy in her life. Take for example, when she had her first bite or when she first began crawling. It was a tedious task, but the excitement that it brought was worth it all,” Bawa, a mother of two, tells you.

For Bawa, clicking newborns is not a task any more because she don’t have the New Parent Syndrome. “It is like a piece of cake for me now. But, back then when I just started, I wasn’t confident enough. More so, because I was handling someone else’s baby that too a newborn. To earn the confidence of the parents was the real task. But now, I am comfortable with newborns and I love them. Even the babies love coming in my lap. Moreover, the parents put in so much of trust in me that they tell me that I can handle the baby on my own,” she says.

With that being said, Bawa still takes time to build a connection with the baby and then proceed with the photo shoot. She never rushes into the process. “When parents walk in my studio with their babies, the first thing I do is to put off the baby’s clothes to make him feel comfortable and at home. Then, I ask the mother to feed the child and hand them over to me. I make the baby fall asleep and then begin the work,” she tells you.

Though unlike wildlife photography, the genre doesn’t demands you to rush after or chase your subjects, but it definitely requires the same amount of patience, if not more.

“There are times when the babies just don’t sleep. They cry and cry. In such a case, we can’t force them into the photo shoot. We have to wait until the baby is calm and gets settled down. I remember my longest shoot with a baby. The parents walked in my studio with twins in the morning and we have to click them both together. The challenge was to make them both calm. When one was calm, the other cried and vice versa. This went on for about six hours. Even the parents started panicking about the photo shoot. I told them to remain patient and that we will be able to pull it off. It was not before six in the evening that the twins settled in and we went ahead with the shoot. It went on till 8 pm,” Bawa recalls.

However, there are some people who question Bawa’s art of clicking newborns by making them pose. Bawa reply to them in the most humble way. “A baby’s bones are soft enough to fold. When the baby is inside the tummy, isn’t he bended? We are not doing anything under the sun. We just reciprocate the poses that the baby is in while in the mother’s belly,” she explains.

The best time, she says, to get a newborn photo shoot done is when the baby is between six and 14 days old. “After this period, the babies bone start losing flexibility and it becomes hard to make them pose. Besides, it can also pose some risks,” she says.

However, the fact of the matter is that Bawa gets to do very few newborn photo shoots. There are several reasons for that. “First, here in North India, people follow the tradition of not letting the mother and baby out of the house for 40 days. The second thing is they believe bachche ko nazar lag jayegi (baby will get exposed to evil eyes),” she says and tells you

Not only photographing, Bawa is involved in all aspects of work — from retouching to creating backdrops, weaving props, designing clothes, styling and everything in-between. So if you are someone who believes in making memories, you can definitely ask Bawa to capture those beautiful moments of your life.

Apart from the multiple beautiful pictures, Bawa also has the title of Canon EOS Maestro in her kitty.

“I got the title in 2019. In October that year, I got a call from the Canon Head Quaters saying that they like my work and called me for an interview. I went there, met the team and showed them my work and achievements. I, till date, don’t know how they found me back then, but this is how it happened and I got the title,” Bawa says.