Reminiscences of a Wildlife Photographer PHOTOGRAPHY

A beacon of light
in the field of wildlife photography
“... the language of nature ... plain,
simple and utterly brilliant.”
Anyone interested in wildlife photography must have, in all likelihood, heard of
T. N. A. Perumal. He is a photographer ‘par excellence’ and his pictures, whether pictorial,
portrait or behavioural, are always technically perfect. He never fails to capture his subject with
good composition, correct lighting and sharpness, giving it natural representation in its habitat.
I first met him in 1986 at Bangalore, in the house of the great Hanumantha Rao, an icon
of his time in wildlife photography. Since then we have been meeting frequently, and my
admiration for his depth of knowledge in the art and technology of wildlife photography has
always been growing. His interest in wildlife photography was kindled by his chance meeting
in 1960 with O. C. Edwards, an English schoolmaster, while walking in Bannerghatta, near
Bangalore. Edwards was an early pioneer of photography in India and Perumal became his
worthy pupil.
Perumal feels that “one good photograph can educate people about the environment much
more than a shelf full of books.” He prefers his photographs to talk for him. He believes in
the 3 Ps—Patience and Perseverance always Pays. Sometimes it takes long planning to create
a ‘chance’ to capture an outstanding picture. His famous picture of the close-up of a barn owl
flying with a feed for its chicks near its nest is a living example of his philosophy of the 3 Ps.
His present book with his best 252 pictures, both black-and-white and colour, will forever be
a beacon of light in the field of wildlife photography.
Vivek R. Sinha, ARDS
Wildlife photographer, conservationist and
author of books of his photography of tigers
Long before the digital photography revolution, long before the rationale of shooting wildlife with a camera
rather than a gun had become fully accepted ... there was T. N. A. Perumal. Black-and-white photography
then was considered an art form, no less than the fine art of painting, forests were undisturbed and it was
possible for a man like Perumal to sit for days in hides, machaans, or just quietly by a bird-stocked wetland
and wait for the image to fall magically through his lens onto his camera plate.
Then, when the work of gathering images would be done, Perumal would take out his equipment
and spend hour after laborious-but-meticulous hour, bathed in red light, in his developing studio. This is
where the magic all came together, as the brush of sunlight and the palette of film merged to produce the
masterpieces that are now contained within the covers of this book.
I have known, admired and been influenced by the ethics of Perumal for over almost four decades
now. Sanctuary Asia, the magazine I edit, owes him a debt of gratitude for shining a light on the direction
we eventually took. “Silence, patience, and respect for your subject are the best ingredients for wildlife
photography,” I remember him telling me in Ranthambore where I met him, together with his late friend
M. Y. Ghorpade. A traditionalist in terms of his values, Perumal has, however, always been an experimenter.
I will never forget the brilliance of the images he shot, using interrupted infrared beams to trigger owls in
mid-flight. Even today he brings nature alive in ways that only he knows.
I am honoured and delighted that he asked me to pen a few words for this book. Anyone interested in
wildlife or in the art of photography should sit with him and by osmosis they will learn. And if you cannot
sit with him, then sit with his images. They speak his language, which is the language of nature ... plain,
simple and utterly brilliant.
Bittu Sahgal
Editor, Sanctuary Asia
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