Funday Times

Young Talent
By Esther Williams
Three of Sachin Unamboowe’s photographs were commended at the 2004 Nature Photographer Competition in the Young category. The grade 7 Royal College student is thrilled. He has his own camera - a Canon Rebel 3000 and uses it at every opportunity to click at birds or animals that capture his attention.

The Son of a professional photographer, Sachin tells about how he came upon his winning images. They had been told of a leopard sighting, down the Talgasmankada Road and headed that way only to end up behind a long stream of vehicles. “To our amazement the leopard appeared out of the trees right next to us,” Sachin tells excitedly, explaining how he managed to take several shots while it was walking towards them. “I was not scared,” he laughs.

At the Yala National Park, on another occasion they had stopped at Koma Wewa to observe the bird life. Seeing a pond heron battling the wind and balancing precariously on a stump, prompted Sachin to take a shot that shows a beautiful contrast of colours.

Sachin (11) has been in a jungle since he was very small, the first time when he was only 3 months old. That’s perhaps why he loves animals and enjoys taking pictures of them. His family goes to wildlife parks such as Yala and Wilpattu to watch animals, each vacation. Sachin also enjoys golf and doesn’t mind becoming either a golfer or a photographer when he is older.

The nature enthusiast is quite competent in changing the aperture of a camera according to the light. “We need to be really patient, cannot make sudden movements and may have to wait in a spot for hours and hours before we get a proper picture,” he says. His favourite time of the day is the early morning when they wait at water holes to capture animals taking a drink.

Harshana Mendis (16), an A/L student of St. Thomas’ has been taking photographs since he was 12. His family makes it a point go to a wildlife park every month and they have also visited Kenya twice.

While on safari there he took several shots of lions with his Nikon F80 camera. “We were travelling in a van with an open roof when we came upon them in the plains,” he says. Harshana’s winning image (2nd prize) was that of a leopard climbing on to a fallen tree, taken at the Masai Mara Reserve in Kenya.

Three of Harshana’s pictures were also commended. These include a Tsavo Lion (maneless and considered man-eating) on a log taken at the Amboseli National Park, Kenya; a unique shot of a Mynah sitting on a deer and eating the ticks from its ear in a colourful background taken on the Buttuwa plains in Yala; and a lioness camouflaged in tall grass, again taken in Kenya’s Masai Mara Reserve.

A Ruggerite in the school’s under 17 team, Harshana considers photography as his second hobby. He however hopes to become a professional photographer and work with the likes of National Geographic. His family share his passion for wildlife.

Heshan Kathriarachchi (16) received the first prize for the Nature Photographer 2004 competition for the young category. An O/L student of Royal College, Heshan talks of his winning image. “The macro shot of a mosquito on a leaf was taken in my garden one morning using a 105mm Macro F8 lens with the available light.”

Photography was an interest Heshan developed when he was around seven years old, passed down from his father, also a nature enthusiast. Each vacation the family travelled to Yala, Wilpattu or Udawalawa to track down rare images of landscapes, birds and other wildlife that one would not normally notice.

It is the minute insects and flowers that this Young photographer finds more challenging. It requires of him to take several frames besides being quiet, still and patient. For the competition he submitted other entries of sceneries and birds. Heshan hopes to become a wildlife photographer, a subject that fascinates him and hopes that his photographs will help people treasure wildlife.

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