Hyderabad birder marking the birds, making a mark in his own way
Hyderabad-based photographer Dasari Vijay has documented over 700 bird species across India. Starting with an Agfa Click III in 1979, the LIC manager turned birding into a lifelong passion, supported by his wife and inspired by social media learning
Hyderabad: For long, Dasari Vijay has been a quiet photographer, but clearly charting his own inimitable style by freezing in his camera some of the most beautiful images of birds. He loves capturing birds in motion, be it at take-off when the species spread their wings, bringing an aesthetic look, or in flight with blue skies in the backdrop.
“I had a niche for photography right from my childhood. I developed a curiosity for observing light and shadows around me. I used to pester my parents with umpteen queries about the moving characters on screen when I got to see an odd movie in a year,” says Vijay in a chat with ‘Telangana Today’.
For someone who is a regular during weekends at most birding spots in and around the twin cities, Vijay got hooked to birding as he was a keen observer of every object in varied lighting conditions.
“I started seeing every object in different lighting. That’s when my Dad gifted me my first camera, Agfa Click III, way back in 1979. Later, photography became my dream and only hobby,” the 58-year-old lensman recalled.
“The first gear that I purchased was a 16mm Fuji camera, then a Kodak camera, and I upgraded my cameras with every new innovation. Clicking macro photographs of nature and flowers for a few years reminded me of those moving characters on screen in movies. That is when I decided to click moving objects and people in motion,” explained Vijay, Manager in LIC (Reinvestment).
“Things changed for the better when I clicked my first bird image, of a sparrow, in 1994. That was just the beginning and since then I rarely miss any opportunity to capture them on my camera,” he said.
“Definitely, photography is a very expensive hobby for me. There was a long gap because of financial constraints in upgrading my camera gear before I got back into birding in 2010, when I purchased Sony A56,” Vijay said.
“Quite frankly, social media platforms, especially Facebook, helped me a lot in widening my knowledge base and improving my photography skills by seeing some lovely pictures of fellow photographers,” he said.
“It has been almost a decade since I purchased my Nikon D7200, and birding has become a real passion. It has become irresistible for sure,” said Vijay, who acknowledges that it would not have been possible without the great support of his wife Jyotsna. “Of late, she is also joining me on my trips, making it even more memorable,” he added.
“I have crossed the 700 species mark in birding and would love to keep going. Having visited most of the birding spots across India, I still look for new locales and come up with some special photographs,” Vijay said.
