Wildlife & Nature Shortlist

This series follows a lone tusker with slender, twig-sized tusks. The locals call him ‘Chillikomban’ and his home range is mostly in the Nelliyampathy Hills in the Anamalai Ranges of the Western Ghats mountains in southern India. He spends most of his time in and around human habitations, negotiating steep hills, tea estates and misty roads. I have been following and observing this tusker for more than a decade now and have been fortunate enough to witness some of the most beautiful moments of his life. This has helped me understand more about elephants and the tolerance level of native people towards certain individuals.

I am more of an elephant photographer than a wildlife photographer. Lucky enough to have seen them from my early childhood, I developed a passion for photographing wild pachyderms. My area of work is more focused than diversified, and it has helped me document some key natural history moments of the Indian Elephants.