aroos • m1r co ours

Vijay Kou/'s pie bounces into first place at the Canberra Times Autumn Photography Comp

Do Canberra and Kashmir have anything in conrn10n? They do, accord ing to CSIRO scientist, Vijay Kou! who won the fuse prize in the Ca11/;erm

Tiv,e.r Autu mn Photography

Competition, 2014. Koul's w inning click, was picked out from more than 400 en a·ies, is a shot of a bunch of kangaroos grazing peacefully ami dst the brea tluaking orange and red hues of the spectacula r Canberra autumn.

A native of Kashmir, Kou] has bee n living in Australia with his family for tl1e past 21 years. He is a scie n tist working with t he Bush Fire Research Grou p of CSIRO

Koul said that the beauty and magnificence of the changing seasons of Canberra, espec ially the spr ing and autumn colours, were h igh ly remini scen t of hi s homeland, Kashmir, which is often referred to as Paradise o n Earth for it.~ breath raking beaut)~

This i s the second time Koul has e ntered this p hotography competition. Last year, he cook part in the Canberr" Times \X' inter Competition 20 13; his p icture was shore- listed to be publis h ed but did nor win the title

Photography has always been Koul's passion, but this inte rest took flight when he began work with CSlRO, as he regularl y caprures photographs of hi s experiments Eve n tl1is winning picture was shot as he was finishing work in a nearby CSIRO lab.

"1 looked outside my window and saw d1e beautiful autumn sunset, trees, kangaroos; luckily I had my camera wid1 me, so jumped over the fence and clic ked the shot," he said of his wi nning ph oto

And when he is not wol'.ki ng, h e also enjoys sho oting for weddings,

INDIAN LINK birthdays and communi cy-related events for friends and famil y At the moment, Koul said d1at he is not thinki ng of turning his passion into a profession, due to work and fami ly commitments, but he is keeping the avenues open.

Kou! shoo t s d1ese captivating images usi ng a Pemax w itlJ Sigma zoom lenses 18-200mm and 70300 mm. He told fodi011 U11k that he prefers not to use any photoediting software and if be must, he uses the software provided by Penta.'i:. He does not believe in fancy camera equip ment, but rather in the creative eye when it comes to capturing beautiful shots

" It is always best ro use auromode till one is confident before migrating ro manual focus," i~ KoLtl's adv ice for photograph y emhnsiasts and wannabe professionals. It is important to have an in -depth und erstanding of shutter speed a nd ap erture when using manual m ode. He also mentione d tl1a t a good way of learning and b roadening knowl edge is to refer co good jour nals, books and magazines dedicated to photog raphy Digital Photogn,pf?y for Dummies and Digital SLR Camern a11dPhotographsjor

D11!!1111ies by David D. Bush are the two books that Koul would suggest fo r no vi ces with a passion for photograph y

For those into travel p h otography; Koul's advice would be to invest in a good camera, a couple of SD cards and sp are batteries. "Go ahead and click as many pictures as yo u like; yo u can always delete the b ad ones," he explained. "And also remember t h e best cin1e for capturing good photograp hs is during the magic or golden hour which is o n e hour after sunrise and one hour before sunset".

He also points ou t tl1e ben efit of using a wide angle for capturing landscapes.

He said that tl1e scope and potential fo r growt h in tbe field of n atme and travel p h otography is immense, as Australia ha s many scenic locations and breat htaking natural beauty. He also m entio ned that d1e scope for event photographers is also huge owing to the large lndian population here

Koul is currently in tl1e p ro cess of p r o d ucing a photographic book capmring the spectacular scenery of tl1e spring and autumn seasons of Canbe r ra. A project very close to hi s heart, he says d1is book will be his dedication to

Canberra and to i ts breatluaking natural beauty during these seasons

To interact w ith Kou! a nd catch a glimpse of his amaz ing work, visitwww facebook.com/vkoul