Hemant Kumar and Iqbal Siddiqui not only share a passion for wildlife photography, but are also involved in saving the birds
A fan throated lizard photographed by Iqbal; (below) green bee-eater photographed by Hemant. (Photo: DC)
Hyderabad: As he strolled around Botanical Gardens looking for birds to photograph, Iqbal Siddiqui saw another man shooting with a better lens, and decided to go up to him. Since then, Iqbal and Hemant Kumar have travelled in and around Hyderabad, with their common interest, wildlife.
“It’s more than just a hobby, it’s our passion,” says Hemant, who works in a simulation company, while Iqbal works for an IT company. He adds, “Till now, we have successfully managed our work and photography. We manage to go for at least three-four trips a month.”
Even though they do not plan on opting for photography as their sole career anytime soon, they steal time for their interest in shooting birds. They have travelled all over India, to spot rare species of birds.
“We even went to Bikaner to shoot the nearly extinct vultures,” says Iqbal. Every winter they try and travel to Rajasthan; and for short trips around the city, they travel about 200 kms a day.
The duo has also rescued many birds during their travels. Most of them are trapped owing to pollution in the areas. A recent rescue was of a Darter bird, which they saved at the city’s Ameen-pur Lake. “The bird had nylon entangled around its beak. This may be because of the pollution after Ganesh visarjan. We managed to free the bird, but the point is that there won’t always be someone to rescue the birds,” says Hemant.
“That’s when we decided to document the whole episode and share it on Facebook, so that others know about it. Now, we have thousands of likes and people commenting about our work. But the aim was to make sure at least two other people know, so that we are spreading awareness about not littering the natural habitats of birds and animals,” says Iqbal.
For other photography enthusiasts, Hemant lists a few must-visit places. “Ameenpur lake, Osmansagar, Anantagiri Hills and Narsapur forest are the few places one must visit if they are into wildlife photography, especially of birds,” he says. But he also adds a word of caution “always be prepared to tackle any danger.”
( Source : dc correspondent )
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