BHUBANESWAR: Wildlife photographer Avinash Khemka, who recently released his book ‘The Magic of Mangalajodi’, wants to use the medium of photography to disseminate and popularise the conservation story of Mangalajodi to the widest possible audience.
Speaking at an event on his book on Saturday here, Cuttack-based Khemka said he has captured the avian diversity and landscapes in his lens, through different seasons over the last 10 years. After spending more than 300 nights in Mangalajodi and 10,000 images later, he decided to narrate the story of the beautiful habitat through the coffee table book.
All the proceeds from the sales of the book will be used to fund conservation initiatives by Song of the Wild, a not-for-profit organisation founded by Khemka and educationist, bird watcher Panchami Manoo Ukil in Mangalajodi.
The plan to launch a coffee table book took shape in 2018 when Khemka held a photo exhibition of his photographs of the birds and their habitat. The images were visualised and shot from varied perspectives, and reflect the ecological relevance as well as the bird tourism potential of this rich wetland habitat, which lies strategically at close proximity to Bhubaneswar.
After the success of the photo exhibition, Khemka and Ukil began working on the coffee table book.
Both of them hoped that the one-of-a-kind publication will help in showcasing the beauty and natural inheritance of Mangalajodi and put it on the world’s eco-tourism map, as well as encourage contributions towards its conservation.
After Mangalajodi, Khemka plans to document all the forests and wild habitats of Odisha to preserve them for future generations and showcase them to the worldwide audience.