Wildlife photographer Rathika Ramasamy at Chilika during one of her shoots . Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 19: A seminar on “Wildlife Conservation Through Photography” was organised by the Birds of Orissa forum here last evening.

Addressing amateur as well as professional shutterbugs at the seminar, India’s first woman wildlife photographer Rathika Ramasamy said that unobtrusiveness should be the watchword of every wildlife photographer.

“It is the responsibility of wildlife photographers to be least obtrusive while capturing beasts in the wild. Negative practices might give you great images but it adversely affects the flora and fauna. It is important that you come back with little or no impact on nature,” said the 42-year-old techie-turned-photographer, who is currently based in Delhi.

Further emphasising her point, she quoted American naturalist, John Muir: “Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints and kill nothing but time.” She even showed a few pictures on habitat and species conservation, man-animal conflict and poaching of animals.

One picture that she showed during the seminar was of a dead bird surrounded by her newborns against the backdrop of people cutting down tress. “I saw this photograph in a Malayali newspaper. It had no caption; it was powerful enough to express how we are destroying their habitat,” she said, adding, “Conservation is of highest priority, aesthetics and technique come second.”

She presented some other images of destruction of wetlands in Delhi because of construction activities.

She also talked about how she developed a passion for photography as a kid and her memorable encounters in the wilderness, which seemed to motivate young photographers in the audience.

“I also love to shoot nature and today’s interactive session with a photographer of her repute made my day. She handed down a few tips on techniques and told us how to be prepared and what to expect when capturing nature,” said Madhumay Mallik, a freelancer and a member of city-based photography club, Cliquers.

Divisional forest officer of Chandaka, Akshaya Pattnaik, wildlife activists, including Biswajit Mohanty, and dozens of nature lovers attended the seminar. Founder member of the Birds of Orissa forum, Shakti Nanda said: “We started this forum three months ago. It is an informal group with several like-minded people, who have joined hands to conserve nature through their photography.”