Jorhat, April 2: The image of a tusker basking in the magical morning sunlight with the terai in the background taken in the summer of 2014 by a 12-year-old girl from Assam has made it to the finals of the coveted BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015 in the 11-14 age group category.
The image, aptly named Kings of the Grassland, portrays the habitat of the majestic elephants in Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand.
"I am over the moon. My father has made me realise how big this achievement is. I took this photo in Corbett when we went searching for elephants. We found only one, but it was a lovely scene. It was actually a casual shot. I need to take up photography seriously now. My father has promised me a new 300mm lens," said Swathi Mahanta over phone from Delhi where she lives with her parents. The budding wildlife photographer now uses a Canon 60D camera and Canon 70-200 F/4 L series lens.
Genes and exposure to photography from a young age may have an important role to play in the achievement of the Class VII student of Presidium, Indirapuram.
Swathi's father Rupankar Mahanta, who hails from Guwahati and is an HR manager with ONGC, is an accomplished wildlife photographer empanelled with Getty Images. He said the scale of his daughter's achievement was yet to sink in.
"The BBC WPY is the biggest award in wildlife photography and every wildlife photographer dreams of making it to the finals of this prestigious event," he said.
Only a handful of Indians have made it to the finals of BBC WPY. In 2014, S.S. Raviprakash, a friend of Mahanta's, became the first Indian to win an award in 26 years in the main event.
Udayan Rao Pawar had won in the 11-14 year category in 2013. Sitara Karthikeyan and Gaurav Narayan were finalists in 2014 in the same category.
When Mahanta came to know from Raviprakash that the BBC contest was coming up this year, he sent the required set of five photographs taken by his daughter to the organisers in February and they selected the elephant image. Swathi's mother, Manorama Goswami, is elated at the accolades being showered on her daughter by wildlife photographers across India. She said she and her husband knew that Swathi was capturing good images but didn't think that these were worth showcasing on the world stage and that too at an event like BBC WPY.
The event, constituted in 1964, is organised by the Natural History Museum, London, and BBC Worldwide.
The winner is declared from among the five finalists on the night of the awards ceremony held in London in September, Mahanta said.
Swathi, who is also a very good keyboard player, often accompanies her father on his wildlife trips, especially to Corbett and Ranthambore National Park.
"Swathi is a keen learner and is quite conversant with camera settings, which is very important in wildlife photography as light situations keep changing from scene to scene. I have been her guide and mentor but she has also got the chance to interact and learn from a few stalwarts of wildlife photography like Nalla Muthu and N.C. Dhingra on her jungle trips," her father said.
