I am a grade nine student at Delhi Public School Megacity (DPS), Kolkata. Photography is my passion, something I truly feel from the heart. My favourite subjects are the many wonders of Mother Nature, especially birds and insects. Since childhood, I have been drawn to the beauty of the natural world. Over time, I have come to appreciate it even more, both through my own eyes and the viewfinder of my camera. I believe birds and insects are among nature’s most fascinating creations, and it brings me immense joy to document them through my lens.
My photographic journey began before I was four, when my parents gifted me my first digital camera, a Canon PowerShot. That little camera sparked a deep love for capturing the world around me. Later, when I received my first DSLR, I began transitioning from a curious enthusiast to a more serious photographer. Through all of this, my biggest support system has been my parents. They are my best friends, my strongest critics, and my constant source of encouragement, making it possible for me to pursue my passion.
My father has always been my first and most important mentor. We used to have a backyard teeming with life, jumping spiders, frogs, colourful caterpillars, and all sorts of unique insects. I remember watching him photograph these tiny creatures up close and then showing me the images. That was my first real introduction to the vibrant life around me. Over time, I started learning the names of various insect species, and later, birds too. I was mesmerized by the jewel-like shimmer of Chrysilla spiders in the sunlight. I watched migratory birds visit our backyard during certain seasons. I saw striking flycatchers perched deep within the branches of our mango trees and even once spotted a huge honey buzzard being mobbed by a group of crows!
One of the happiest moments of my life was four years ago, when my parents gifted me a DSLR camera along with a 55–250mm lens. That gift marked the true beginning of my photography journey. I started photographing garden birds like sunbirds and flowerpeckers, who feasted in our garden almost every day.
But perhaps the most unforgettable moment of all was my first real photography trip. My family took me to a small lake near a village in the Burdwan district of West Bengal. It was wintertime, and the lake was alive with hundreds of waterbirds and raptors, ospreys, ducks, pratincoles, herons, and jacanas everywhere I looked. I was awestruck by the sheer diversity. Flocks of birds filled the sky, and I could hardly keep up with what I was seeing. That experience, my first encounter with nature in its wild unfiltered form is now etched in my heart forever.
