KOCHI: AT 1 am on Thursday when most people would have been in deep slumber, two globally renowned photographers were on a mission at Vagamon, the picturesque hill station bordering Kottayam and Idukki districts. Wading through the tea plantations, braving the darkness and the early morning fog, were Nick Ut, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, one of which was for his iconic ‘Napalm girl’ photo snapped during the Vietnam War, and Raul Roa, Los Angeles Times photo editor. They were there to capture a good snap of the Kerala skies from the hill station. "1.20am-2.10am. With no sleep after editing day 8, I’ve accomplished one of my very special goals.
Star trails in Kerala, India and even got bonus two meteors!!! Amazing God’s Own Country's gift to me. Namaste!" wrote Roa, an expert on astrophotography, on his Facebook wall alongside a photo of the night sky with meteors. The duo is in Kerala, courtesy of the initiative by the Kerala Media Academy and the state government, for 12 days (March 11- 22). They are capturing Kerala through a different, and mostly unseen perspective. "We had to walk through the tough terrain with just a torchlight to guide us at 1 am," said cartoonist Sudheer Nath N B, who has been travelling with the two veteran photographers.
K G Santhosh, Kerala Media Academy secretary, said the Vietnamese- American photographer has been assigned by the Public Relations Department to submit hundreds of photographs of Kerala, which will be published as a book by this year-end. "The photographs through the lens of Ut will give a new perspective, unseen till now, about our state, its people, culture," he said.
Kerala's cultural figures greet Ut at different cities
Ut was greeted by cultural leaders in various cities. If it was poet-critic K. Satchidanandan who shared the dais with Ut in Thiruvananthapuram, at Kollam and Alappuzha, Oscar winner Rasul Pookutty travelled and guided him to capture the state's images. Litterateur Arundhati Roy and K R Meera accompanied Ut at Kottayam and actor Mammootty turned up to greet the Los Angeles-based Ut at Ernakulam. "At Kozhikode, we are trying to get M T Vasudevan Nair, and writer Mukundan will accompany Ut to Mahe," Santhosh said.
'Napalm girl' to visit Kerala
R S Babu, Kerala Media Academy chairman, said Ut has promised to return to Kerala. "We tried to bring both Ut and Phan Thi Kim Phuc (the girl featured in the famous photo, who is now a grand parent) over," Babu said. He said Ut will be accompanied by Kim on his next visit here.
Ut at Kerala Media Academy
Speaking at a function to honour Ut at the Kerala Media Academy, Sebastian Paul said he found out from Ut the editors at the Associated Press (AP) were initially reluctant to release the ‘Napalm girl’ photo due to the 'nudity content'. "I found out from Ut the AP editors even tried to blur the image, before releasing the photo," he said.
'Come back and click photos of Iraq and Afghan War' Ut thanked Kerala Media Academy and the state for the 'wonderful reception' accorded to him at all venues. The lensman, who is leading a retired life in the US, said wherever he goes people tell him to come back and click the war photos from Iraq and Afghanistan. "But compared to the past, it's not easy to take war photos now, in this age of 'embedded journalism,'" he said.