An honour that every photographer dreams of, especially for following one’s passion, is what Venkateswarlu Kola, who hails from Kodad in Suryapet district, received when he was made the Associate of Royal Photographic Society by the Royal Photographic Society (United Kingdom).
The 54-year-old, who is known for his romance with the wild and has captured the Royal Bengal Tiger in all its glory, is the first photographer from the Telugu-speaking States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to receive the honour after a gap of 50 years.
“I am delighted, more so because it is given for my work on tiger,” says a beaming Venkanna. He also reminds that it is for the first time that such an honour in nature photography has been bestowed upon someone from this part of the country. The last one to receive the honour was O.P. Edwards in 1965 for his portfolio on Indian snakes.
“It took me 12 long years to capture different moods of the striped beauty with an emphasis on its habitat, for which I had to visit every tiger sanctuary in India,” says Venkanna.
“The whole endeavour was to capture tigers in their habitat to give the viewers a feel of the nature at its best,” he adds.
“It makes me happy that a Telugu photographer has been selected for this rare honour in the category of nature photography, which is otherwise dominated by photographers from Karnataka and West Bengal,” feels Venkanna. “I have been to all the sanctuaries in India and owe a lot to the selfless service rendered by the guides, who are postmasters in guiding us to the right locale for tiger sightings,” the photographer says.
