MN Jayakumar’s latest photo exhibition whisks you away on a safari

Nature’s Splendour is an exhibition of images by Bengaluru-based photographer MN Jayakumar, currently underway in the city

Photographs can capture a moment, place, animal or thing that can either bring back a memory, preserve one or give viewers a chance to gaze on something they may never have the chance to. And while this can be said of all photos, travel and wildlife photographers are perhaps the ones whose work only showcases the best moment, while the rest go unmentioned.

Anyone who has done a bit of birding or gone on a jungle safari knows the odds of spotting a creature in its natural habitat is not always great. Knowing that a particular shot would have been clicked after hours of patient waiting, throws the images captured by any wildlife photographer into sharper perspective.

It would seem MN Jayakumar has endless reserves of patience, perseverance and time. “Sightings are rare and can occur in a split second. Of the 100 times you may spot an animal, only 10% of the time can those images be used as they might be a blur or obscured by foliage. And even if you click 50 images in that moment, you end up with only two or three, which are usable. Getting a shot in the wild is not as glamorous as one might think.”

Needless to say, there is no end to the encounters Jayakumar can recall. “We were at the Maasai Mara reserve in Kenya, hoping to capture elephants at dusk. Suddenly, the whole sky darkened and was covered with clouds, but at the same time turned a beautiful shade of blue. We asked our guide to take us to any elephant haunt where we might be able to photograph them.”

“Instead, we came across a few giraffe and were able to get a few shots before the light faded and it began raining. It went on to pour for three hours straight! We were lucky to capture the atmosphere in those few fleeting minutes.” The beauty of two stately giraffe standing on a swathe of vivid green under a sapphire blue sky is on display at the show.

He goes on to share how at Kabini a few years ago, they saw small elephant herds scattered around the backwaters. “We were hoping they would group together but after about 30 minutes when they didn’t, we chose a herd which had a male, female and a few calves framed against the backdrop of Bandipur forest.“

Jayakumar shares a geography nugget: Nagarhole frames the northern bank of Kabini and Bandipur its south.