Aggal Sivalingam, the wildlife guide and photographer, talks about what makes his images click.
As published on Nature inFocus on 12 December, 2019.
For a wildlife photographer, the Blue Mountains have a lot to offer. The lush green hills provide a beautiful view, no doubt, but the place is also a cornucopia of biodiverse flora and fauna. People flock to the Nilgiris in hopes of framing their dream species, and when it comes to both navigating these hills and capturing that memorable shot, there is one name that they all seek – Aggal Sivalingam.
Whether Sivalingam is a guide-turned-photographer or a photographer-turned-guide is very much a chicken or egg conundrum. In his world, wildlife photography and the Nilgiris blend together seamlessly to produce the picture-perfect frames that we witness. Despite his many accomplishments and the long list of iconic images that he has worked on, this self-taught photographer/ bird-watcher/ camera trap expert claims that he is just plain lucky.
Sivalingam is a man of few words. Though reticent at first, he slowly opened up during the course of this conversation. He spoke about his journey into photography and his wildlife encounters in fluent Tamil, slipping into English while describing species and techniques. Here is an edited transcript of my interview with Aggal Sivalingam aka ‘Leopard Man’.
Read the complete interview here.