The Canon Photo Walk

Canon Photo Walk

Chattbir Zoo (2015)

Canon India conducted its first ever Photo Walk in Chandigarh on 18th January 2015. The Canon Photo Walk was mentored by Shivang Mehta who is an official trainer with Canon and is also the Canon India Brand Ambassador. The theme for the Photo Walk was “Wildlife Photography” and the place chosen for the walk was “Chattbir Zoo”.

The time fixed for the walk was 9:00 AM. There is a huge fog cover in Chandigarh in January and 18th of January was no exception. The fog was so dense in the morning that I skipped the initial entrance of the zoo as the road was not visible  and had to take an alternate longer route to reach the same. Anyways on reaching I was joined by other participants and our mentor Shivang. On entering the zoo we had a small introduction session and then Shivang explained the initials of Wildlife Photography and some specific tips for photographing wild animals in the zoo environment.

Shivang has a lot of experience in photographing tigers in the wild, so we first headed to the tiger enclosure where we luckily found 2-3 white tigers in a playful mood. Though the visibility was not good due to fog but we did manage to shoot some interesting photographs of these tigers.

Tiger Portraits

Tiger Portrait - Canon Photo Walk

Tiger Portrait - Canon Photo Walk

Tiger Portrait - Canon Photo Walk

Tiger Portrait - Canon Photo Walk

Tigers In Action

Tigers in Action - Canon Photo Walk

Tigers in Action - Canon Photo Walk

Tigers in Action - Canon Photo Walk

After photographing the tigers we moved to a small natural lake that is part of the zoo and is home to many migratory and local birds.

Spot Billed Duck - Canon Photo Walk

The Tiger Dentist - Canon Photo Walk

Spot Billed Duck - Canon Photo Walk

Along the way we had many interesting discussions on the Camera models, lenses to use for wildlife and many other photography topics which helped us gain a thorough understanding of this area of photography.

In the end we spent some time in the ducks enclosure and managed to click some beautiful photographs as the lighting had improved by this time and the fog cover had reduced.

The Perfect Landing - Canon Photo Walk

Ducks in the Lake - Canon Photo Walk

Ducks in the Lake - Canon Photo Walk

The Perfect Landing - Canon Photo Walk

We ended the walk with a group photo, distribution of participation certificates and discussion on the way ahead for Wildlife Photography.

The Photowalk Group - Canon Photo Walk
The Photowalk Group

The fog did play a major spoilsport but I managed to learn many important aspects of photographing in the wild. I clicked around 200+ photographs but only managed to get around 20-25 good photographs as major of these were not up to the mark due to poor lighting. I had earlier visited Chattbir Zoo around 3-4 times but never managed to get good photographs.

In the end a special thanks to Shivang Mehta for sharing his wide photography experience with us. Attending this Photo Walk by Canon was a huge learning experience for me and will help me in my future encounters with wildlife…..:-)

The 500px Global Photo Walk

500px Global Photo Walk

On 26th September 2015 the 500px Global Photo Walk was organized in Chandigarh for the first time by NOTYi Photographers. The location of the walk was Sukhna Lake, Chandigarh. The walk was to start at 5:00 AM so I readied myself and reached the venue at around 4:50 AM. There were around 20 participants who had already reached the venue by this time including the organizers.

We registered ourselves and waited for the event to start. The walk started at around 6:00 AM. By this time the number of participants had already reached 100+. The organizers had arranged for different themes for photography. As the number of participants were large so we were divided into smaller groups of 7-10 participants and sent for photographing different themes.

As part of the walk I clicked around 200 photographs. Following are some of the best photographs of the walk covering the different themes.

Sukhna Lake

Sunrise at Sukhna Lake - 500px Global Photo Walk
Sunrise @ Sukhna
Kayaking - 500px Global Photo Walk
Kayaking

Model Photography

Model #1 - 500px Global Photo Walk
Model #1
Model #2 - 500px Global Photo Walk
Model #2
Model #3 - 500px Global Photo Walk
Model #3
Model #4 - 500px Global Photo Walk
Model #4
Model #5 - 500px Global Photo Walk
Model #5

Kids at the Walk

Kids @ Photo Walk - 500px Global Photo Walk
Kids @ Photo Walk
Kids @ Photo Walk - 500px Global Photo Walk
Kids @ Photo Walk
Kids @ Photo Walk - 500px Global Photo Walk
Kids @ Photo Walk

General Photography

SuperBikes - 500px Global Photo Walk
SuperBikes
VIntage Car Rally - 500px Global Photo Walk
VIntage Car Rally
Cycling - 500px Global Photo Walk
Cycling

Finally the NOTYi team that made the event possible……

The NOTYi Team - 500px Global Photo Walk
The NOTYi Team

And to end it all the final “Group Selfie”

The Group Selfie - 500px Global Photo Walk
The Group Selfie

The NOTYi team was aiming for breaking the world record for most people participating in a photo walk in a single day and they did manage to break it with 448 participants, 42 more than the previous record.

Canvas with 448 Signatures - 500px Global Photo Walk
Canvas with 448 Signatures

Overall the event was a good experience as it was my first ever Photo Walk with a large group.

The 500px Global Photo Walk in Chandigarh was covered by all the major newspapers in town.

Newspaper Coverage - 500px Global Photo Walk
Newspaper Coverage