Swiftly passing on the baton

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 15

Like father, like son. The wildlife photographing duo has been turning heads around for a while now with their talent.

The pandemic year has been a double delight for them. Clicking rare animal breeds and species of birds, 12-year-old Arshdeep Singh has been awarded with the Asian Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020 for his image of colugo taken in Malaysia. Meanwhile, father Randeep Singh also won accolades for his image of a crab spider.

A businessman and exporter Randeep has spent over a decade pursuing his passion across various terrains and countries. Having scaled 75 countries across the world on business trips, he always keeps the last days (or weekends) of his exposures for snapping. His collection boasts of thousands of clicks from jungles, forests, national parks and sanctuaries of Madagascar, Kenya, Panama, Brazil, Ecuador, Vietnam, Malaysia, Holland, France, Germany, Poland, Romania among other countries and wildlife parks including Jim Corbett, Ranthambore among others across India.

Next generation

While Randeep is well-versed with the thrill of the wild and has escaped several close shaves, his son, whom he encouraged to get in the line, too, has learnt as much in a little time with him.

The father, having started landscape photography in 2008 and 2009, has been charged at by a tusker at the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand. While a hot pursuit by wild dogs in sub-zero temperatures in Ladakh near the Tso Kar lake was equally fretting.

Speaking of his close shave in Ladakh, he shares, “I along with two of my friends were chasing a cape hare near the Pso Moriri and Tso Kar lakes and we went pretty deep into the wilderness. Just when we were planning to call it a day we realised the company — feral dogs had surrounded us. We knew we couldn’t outrun them. So, the only option was crossing a nearby stream. We quickly entered the biting stream and crossed over, finding a road through which we made our way back to the resort.” However, with time the passion for photography has only grown. He now schools his son. “My son knows already what I learnt in all these years. When he began, I gave him my DLSR telling him that it’s new. Starting with the garden, he’s now adept at clicking and has won more awards than me,” Randeep beams.

Both also share deep ecological concerns, “The Punjab Kajli Wetland supported a huge forested are, now greatly reduced. The green cover is lesser, water is polluted and birds are no more. We need to conserve wildlife to give our children a better world to live in,” he concludes.

Rising son!

• Winner of wildlife photographer of the year in youngest category (under-11 category) at world level in 2018
• Winner of junior nature best photographer of the year (Asia) in 2018 (under 18 years)
• Winner of comedy wildlife photographer of the year at world level (below 16years) 2019
• Runner-up in junior nature best photographer of the year (Asia) in 2019 (under-18 category) 2020
• n Global Child Prodigy Award for 100 children worldwide in January 2020
• Runner-up in wildlife photographer of the year at world level in 2020 (under-15 category)
• Runner-up in junior nature best photographer of the year (Asia) in 2020 (under-18 category)