Stunning! Shreyovi Mehta, 10, is a runner up at the annual worldwide Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest.
When Shreyovi Mehta was a toddler of just two, barely able to string a few words together, she loved exploring India's mysterious but lively forests, and shortly thereafter her mom put a simple point-and-shoot camera into her little hands and her photography career began.
Her passion for shooting wildlife was ignited by this gift and by the tender age of 10 -- her age today -- the young girl, who is in Class 5 at the Shiv Nadar School, Faridabad, Haryana, was on an extraordinary journey, capturing regularly the exquisiteness and diversity of the natural world around her through her lens, supervised by her mother, Kahini Ghosh Mehta, who quit the 9-to-5 drill to track tigers.
Since her early days of photographing deer in the wild, Shreyovi's talent and dedication have flourished. She has ventured into some of India's most iconic national parks, clicking majestic tigers, elusive pythons, dangerous cobras.
Her perseverance and fascination with jungle creatures, and the hours spent crouched, quietly tailing them, proved fruitful and didn't go unnoticed -- her entry of portrait of a pair of lissom peafowl outlined against a gossamery horizon of trees at the Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, was named runner-up in the 60th annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest, organised by the Natural History Museum, London.
At the Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh, this glorious dude, above, was walking directly towards Shreyovi's safari vehicle, a Maruti Gypsy, with its headlights on, and the ten year old clicked in the nick of time.
Her ability to capture the very spirit of these creatures in their natural habitats reflects how keen her eye is and how unwavering is her patience.
Beyond photographic pursuits, Shreyovi also finds joy in sketching and singing classical songs as well as hip hop.
Hear Shreyovi's story in her own words in the video below:
WATCH: How Shreyovi took the award-winning photograph.
As her skills have matured, so too has her equipment. Shreyovi now expertly wields a Sony Alpha 9 III and her practice camera at home is a Canon 5D, equipped with a 17-40 mm lens, with which she snaps stunning images with exceptional detail and clarity.
Shreyovi is not very fond of insects but she reveres birds, and photographically recording them, like this Changeable Hawk-Eagle in Panna National Park, Madhya Pradesh.
One of her favourite parks is Bharatpur in Rajasthan, the location of her award-winning pea fowl capture, because there are so many species of birds in that sanctuary, she says. She adores the walks she takes with her photographer father there.
Another fantastic portrait, above, this time of a Bandhavgarh jungle rani.
Above is a simple shot of a myna on a sambhar at the Panna National Park, which is made special by Shreyovi's framing -- a beautiful display of the symbiotic relationships that exist in the wild.
Speaking about framing a photograph, here is what Shreyovi has to say:
WATCH: Shreyovi shares her stories from the wild.
Noorie, the tiger Shreyovi first saw at the age of two, was the subject of a more recent photograph. Her father Shivang Mehta helped her with this amazing pic of Noorie of the Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan.
Her parents run Nature Wanderers, an organisation that tailors tours that teach budding enthusiasts the basics of wildlife photography.
In early October, Shreyovi is headed to London for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award ceremony.
Shreyovi's story is an inspiration to young people around the world -- passion coupled with determination and a healthy respect+love for nature can help anyone can achieve their dreams.
Loads of credit also goes to Shivang and Kahini, who always ensure that Shreyovi spends as much time in the lap of nature, that grows her empathy for the natural world.
"We try to keep her connected not only to forests, but also a lot of urban wildlife around us, so that she knows that as an Indian citizen, she is surrounded with nature and this is a heritage which she has to preserve in the long run. Photography is a tool which she can use to achieve this."
All photographs kind courtesy: Shreyovi Mehta
