In Love With Macro

Uday Hegde is a SAP Technical Architect by profession and is currently living in Bangalore. He hails from a small village called Sirsi in the North Canara District of Karnataka. He is married and has a 9-year-old son. Says Uday “I was lucky to have been born in the midst of the natural beauty of the Western Ghats which I always wanted to capture the way I see it. And it was 12 years back that I finally got that chance when I bought my first camera. At the age of eight or nine, I used to take wild shots using my dad’s old camera never knowing the perfect angle. But that got me so interested that it became my dream to buy a camera for myself when I grew up and got a job.

- Rohinton Mehta

Photography covers several genres. What got you interested in macro photography?

I am from a small village in the lush valley of Western Ghats and it was very common to see snakes, frogs, scorpions and different insects around my home. I was always very interested in watching these and in fact they were like my childhood buddies. One day I witnessed an event wherin a vine snake patiently waited for almost 4 hours, without moving an inch, to make its kill. This was a turning point in my life. I felt that I need to show the world the beauty of these lesser-known subjects.

How do you manage to find your macro subjects?

Subjects are always the photographer’s choice. If you do not have a particular subject in mind, then even your home garden/plants in balcony will give you subjects for a full day shoot. Your subjects are everywhere waiting to be discovered. In case you have a specific subject in mind, then it is ideal to do some homework on it by reading about it online or in any scientific magazines about the habitat, elevation level, type of forest and their behavior before choosing the place to visit. For example, Trimeresurus macrolepis, which is commonly known as large-scaled pit viper is found only in the mountains of southern Western Ghats, south of Palakkad Gap, at elevations of 1200-2695 meters.

Some of the species you photograph are obviously dangerous. How do you ensure your safety?