Like father, like son… and a small variation in the process of making art, and that’s how a story begins: Toehold patron Sharath Giri’s introduction to the sublime art of photography.
As a child, Sharath grew up watching his father recording those moments he thought were dear to him with a camera. This detail about all the vacations had a powerful influence on the curious mind, and when Sharath started to travel all by himself, he began making pictures using a point-and-shoot camera.
His eye for detail made him want to not miss anything that a place has to offer to a keen observer, and he gradually bettered his way of making images with a DSLR. His interest in travel and landscape photography took him to places and Sharath understood the significance of carrying the right equipment to various places to capture the soul of a place in pixels.
Exploring new genres of photography led Sharath to give people-photography a shot, especially when an opportunity knocked at his door in the form of a fashion photography project. But he realised that his primary interest lies in capturing the world as it naturally is, and wanted to push the boundary of his passion for capturing natural life. That’s when he wanted to venture into wildlife photography.
When Sharath first learned of Toehold from a cousin, they decided to go on a Photo Tour to Corbett with more like-minded people. On the Toehold Photo Tour, under the appropriate guidance of the Skipper, Sharath realised that his obsession for photography was only growing stronger with each passing day.
Sharath has been an ardent Toehold Patron ever since. He says: “The bonding with Toehold Skippers goes beyond the horizon of what a Photo Tour has in store for a participant. It becomes friendship and stays just as strong long after a Photo Tour. It amazes me how they put a participant in the best moment for the perfect shot of a subject in the wild rather than worrying about getting the best shot themselves.”
Sharath has been on several Photo Tours in India and abroad, and his love for natural history photography is growing strong. ‘Obsession’ is the word he uses frequently but aptly, when he describes his love for shooting wildlife in their natural habitat.
In the near future, Mr. Giri wants to explore the possibilities of macro photography by venturing out into the forests in the night, when the nocturnal creatures are most active. He also wants to try out automotive photography as the minute technical details of such machines always mesmerises him.
And this is what he has to say about travel photography: “To capture the elements of nature even in the absence of wildlife is a creative challenge and it humbles me how the world gives us ample opportunity just by existing the way it is.”
When asked about what photography means to him, he asserts: “I’d like to think of it as my personal way of expressing the emotions I feel in a particular moment because of what I see. And to be able to convey what I feel and making the other person feel something close to what that moment made me feel, is something that photography allows us to do.”
Sharath has always been clear about what he has been doing and his clarity seems to be intact when he tells us what he plans to do in photography in the days to come. In his own words: “I want to travel more to widen the range of my experiences of the world. I also want to work better on my skill set and acquire the right equipment to chart a steady, consistent progress in my photography, which is no less than an obsession.”
We wish him that and much more luck to bring his distinctive art to the world of photography.
