HUBBALLI: The wildlife photography fraternity in India has mourned the untimely death of Ashish Parmar, a noted wildlife photographer from Bengaluru.
Known for his award-winning mobile photography which became the face of iPhone worldwide, Ashish breathed his last on Thursday morning at a private hospital in Bengaluru after being unconscious for the last twenty days. He has been in the hospital since he suffered a massive heart attack.
Ashish was involved in wildlife photography in the jungles of India, Africa and South America. For the last few years, he was taking wildlife photography enthusiasts to South Africa.
Today hundreds of young wildlife photographers are shooting images who were either trained or inspired by Ashish.
His encounters with Cheetahs in the jungles of Africa have been remarkable experiences for his fellow photographers.
"Ashish has been a good friend and a renowned photographer. I first meet him at Bandipur Tiger Reserve in 2009 and he mentioned that he hadn’t spotted a wild tiger. However his jinx broke when he did a safari along with me and had a wonderful sighting of a huge male tiger known as Prince," said noted wildlife photographer Praveen Siddannavar.
"I have had shared great memories with him thereafter. It’s sad to know he is no longer with us and it’s a great loss to the Indian photography fraternity," Siddannavar added.
"Ashish was a dear friend and a great photographer. It is a great loss to wildlife photography. Ashish was supposed to be present at Ranthambore today for a shoot but the fate was different," said Kalyan Varma, a wildlife photographer and filmmaker.
"Ashish had great skills when it came to photography of any kind. He even had some great images from his cellphone. Many junior photographers were inspired by Ashish to take up the profession," Varma said.
Umesh G E, wildlife photographer and entrepreneur from Dandeli said that many wildlife photographers were closely associated with Ashish for the photography tour and his skills. "Ashish got together several photographers under one platform. Many times the photographers lack guidance when it comes to shooting wildlife. Ashish was one stop contact person for such photographers," he said.