BENGALURU: Water scarcity in Karnataka and neighbouring states emerged as the highlight in the recently-concluded Nature InFocus Festival. A campaign called ‘Save Every Drop’ was launched in collaboration with Astral Pipes, a plumbing and drainage systems manufacturer.
The sixth edition of the event, held over the weekend at Palace Grounds, was attended by wildlife activists, photographers, filmmakers and nature enthusiasts.
Through the year-long campaign, organisers aim to create awareness about the ongoing water crisis and encourage necessary actions to address this issue. Rohit Varma, co-founder of Nature inFocus, said,
“Water crisis is a pressing issue, but what we need now is to go beyond creating awareness and act on it. Through this campaign, we hope people will find ways to do their bit, before it’s too late.”
The key ideas of the campaign are recognising individuals and organisations working on water conservation and providing innovative solutions; increasing awareness among public through social media posts created by artists and illustrators; and a year-long contest inviting ideas on effective water conservation.
The Nature inFocus digital platform and the annual festival draws a crowd of like-minded people interested in understanding the natural world and the burning issues of our planet. The event also features various contests on the subject.
This year, Shuvam Nath took home the ‘NiF Photographer of the Year’ prize for his image ‘Buzz-kill’, which also won in the ‘Animal Behaviour’ category. It shows a female oriental honey buzzard storming a large beehive as its inhabitants go berserk. Alerted by his parents one early morning, Nath jumped out of bed to capture this action shot from his terrace.
“One need not climb mountains or trek forests to find interesting subjects. If you look around, the possibilities are endless,” says the 20-year-old photography student from Kolkata, who plans to specialise in wildlife and landscapes during the last year in college.
The award in the Conservation Issues category was shared by three images – ‘A Tale Of Two Cities’ by Sarang Naik, ‘Crossing The Styx’ by Ankit Kashyap, and ‘New Enemies’ by Devki Nandan. The ‘Young Photographer’ award was won by Wewin Pandian. Naik is a freelance photographer and cinematographer from Mumbai. He specialises in black and white images and abstract photography, and tries to depict images of nature with emotion, melancholy and loneliness in particular. Nature photography has become a meditative practice for him and a way to express his inner struggles, he says.