About the bootcamp
Are you into Wildlife and Nature photography and aspiring to take your game to the next level? This is your moment in time!
Join the biggest ever bootcamp on Wildlife Photography at Bandhavgarh national park in April 2020. Some of the biggest names from the industry will be there to mentor you on the field and give you invaluable life lessons on Wildlife photography. This will be a live photography contest where you participate with 44 more contestants and shoot the Wildlife of Bandhavgarh through the event. At the end of the event a panel of eminent judges selects the winners in different categories.There are exciting prizes to be won from our sponsors, and the title winner takes away a flagship Sony DSLR camera. All the participants get complimentary camera bean bag from Wild Voyager and six months of subscription with Smart Photography magazine.
https://www.wildvoyager.com/wilderlenses/
Schedule
8th April, 2020
- 13.00 Arrive at Syna Resort, Bandhavgarh by this time and check in
- Informal gathering over lunch.
- 17.00 – Group assembles at conference hall
- 17.00-18.00 – welcome address & warming up (with a small quiz). Grouping (groups of 4 for the safaris) decided on quiz responses (people with complimentary strengths are matched)
- 18.00-18.30 – debriefing for next 3 days and introducing to mentors and group
- 19.00-20.30- Informal networking over dinner
9th April, 2020
- 05.30 – assemble for safari and tea/coffee.
- 06.00-10:30 – morning safari
- 10 minutes for learning form filling.
- 12.00-13.00 – open house doubt clearing sessions with mentors in groups
- 15.00-18.00 – afternoon safari post lunch followed by learning form filling
- 19.00-19.30 – 30 minutes Image review and discussions on the days shoot
- 19.30-2.000- 30 minute session – “Be the jury” – Critiquing a set of award winning images – to develop appreciation for unique compositions and ultimately choose a winner. To be anchored by the mentors.
- 20.00-20.30 – 30 minutes session on understanding flora and fauna of Bandhavgarh by local forest official.
- 20.30-21.30 – Cultural night followed by Dinner and open house.
10th April, 2020
- 05.30 – assemble for safari and tea/coffee.
- 06.00-10.30 – morning safari
- 10 minutes for learning form filling.
- 12.00-13.00 – open house doubt clearing sessions with mentors in groups post B/F
- 15.00-18.00 – afternoon safari post lunch followed by learning form filling
- 19.00-19.30 – Selecting camera bodies and lenses, especially considering wildlife photography, a session by Rohinton Mehta
- 19.30-20.00- 30 minute session on adapting shooting techniques in different global habitats and ethics by Alankar
- 20.00-20.30 – 30 minutes Image review and discussions on the days shoot
- 20.30-21.30 – Cocktail followed by Dinner.
11th April, 2020
- 05.30 – assemble for safari and tea/coffee.
- 06.00-10.00 – morning safari
- 10 minutes for learning form filling.
- 10.15 to 10.30 – 15 min session by lead sponsor to interact and talk about their product
- 10.30 to 11.00 – Briefly talk on the selection process and Announcement of winners, with images being presented on slide show
- 11.00 to 11.15 – Message from sponsors and other jury.
- 11.15 to 11.30 – Vote of thanks including to sponsors, guides, drivers, staff.
- 11.30 to 12.00 – Feedback forms and personalised recommendations to each participant, and a thank you kit. Group disburses with happy memories.
What is different
For any form of photography, including Wildlife photography, it is easy to gather theory lessons from the internet as there are lot of self help resources and videos available. However, like any field craft, the real test of skill lies in the field. Learning on the field from top guns of the game makes a world of difference to your understanding of the field craft, and you also pick up many nuances which were unknown to you earlier. There is no such thing as “perfect” in photography, but absorbing some of the best practices and technique from the masters and learning about diverse school of thoughts definitely makes you a better photographer after the event than you were before.
The reason Wilderlenses is unique is all the four mentors come from different backgrounds and their expertise varies in terms of geographies, shooting medium, end objective etc. You get a chance to interact with all the mentors at different points in time, giving you a diverse and varied perspective, which helps you to go towards finding a creative voice of your own. Also in the evenings there are interactive group sessions where all of us get a chance to critique the images made during the day, and learn from each other and from the inputs given by the mentors.
Further, the event is designed in such a way that you are pushed to make the best of your creative juices and work towards visualising and creating pieces of art, and not just do safaris and worry about sightings in a Tiger park, which you can do yourself also.
About Bandhavgarh
Bandhavgarh national park does not need any introduction to Wildlife photography enthusiasts in India. Most of you already know it as the premiere Tiger park in the country, with frequent sightings of the Royal Bengal Tiger. There are other fauna like Sloth Bear, Indian Gaur, Jackals, Spotted Deers, Sambar Deers etc which are seen regularly, and occasionally Indian Leopard is also seen. It is said that about 250 bird species have been recorded in this national park, however there are regular sightings of King Vulture, Indian Roller, Crested serpent Eagle etc.
Here we will repeat again, this bootcamp is not about what is available in the park or about your “sightings” during the bootcamp. It is about making the best use of your creative energies to come up with the best possible visual representation of what you saw during your safaris while at the bootcamp.
https://www.wildvoyager.com/wilderlenses/
Gallery
These are some illustration of what you can shoot at Bandhavgarh from Alankar Chandra’s collection, but these are by no means your benchmark or shooting guidelines for the bootcamp. You are expected to come up with a much better creative output than these images.
The Jury
Rohinton Mehta, known as Uncle Ronnie in the photography circles, is the Technical Editor of Smart Photography magazine. He started with serious photography in 1973 and has been teaching photography since the last 44 years. He has conducted several workshops on photography, judged many photography competitions in India and had the privilege to be a member of the jury at an international photo competition in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He is an honorary member of The Federation of Indian Photography (FIP), The Photographic Society of India (PSI) and The Photographic Society of Pune (PSP).
Alankar Chandra is one of the leading natural history photographers from India. His works have been published in international and domestic media and he is widely followed on social media with over 200,000 followers. His passion has taken him to remote wilderness destinations in India, Costa Rica, Kenya, Tanzania, Iceland and Norway to name a few. He has won multiple national and international wildlife photography awards. He regularly publishes on his travel and photography in national and international publications such as Daily Mail, Condenast Traveler, Economic Times, Gulfnews etc. He is also the founder & CEO of Wild Voyager.
