National Geographic journalist Mohit Midha isn’t happy if you find his works ‘nice’. What’s important for him is a viewer’s involvement with his subject. “It’s not good enough when someone says, ‘Oh! that’s a nice photograph’. My aim as a photographer is to tempt people… tempt them to go, visit a wildlife reserve and not kill animals,” he says.
Midha’s first exhibition Rang Ragas: A Travelogue, presented by Nitanjali Art gallery and curated by Elizabeth Rogers, is on at Machan, Taj Mahal hotel, till March 27.
“With this exhibition, I hope to get a bit of recognition and also hope to make the path easier for others like me,” he says. “My biggest strength is that I look for expressions in an animal’s face while shooting. That’s most important for me. I don’t understand this talk about the right posture and movement.”
Midha’s
wild voyages have been featured on National Geographic India’s site for the past four years. He has worked with many international travel publications like DestinAsian and is also the brain behind Wildlywise.com, a project aiming to promote conservation.
“It’s such a high when I see people doing adventure travelling with print outs of my articles. It’s very encouraging to see 200,000 hits on my web site. There is tremendous scope for conservationists like me. People are beginning to be concerned.”
And before the photography bug hit him, Midha was working in the travel industry. “I used to get free international tickets every year. But not once did I use them. I was always fascinated by wildlife. I have travelled all over India in my car,” he says. And he’s utilising his passion to its fullest potential. Besides writing for magazines and websites, Midha is working on a series of travel guides, called Wildlife Parks of India.