Hidden fears -so back to Hiding

I delivered my first talk as a wildlife photographer at the annual wildlife festival held by Nature in focus in Bangalore. The event was a big eye opener for a person like me who has always avoided stages.

I would by lying to the world and myself if I say I don’t like adulation and recognition. But with adulation comes added expectations & responsibility. Even though I have been basking in all the attention I was getting. I was also terrified as I was not too sure of my ability to meet future expectations.

Some questions that came up in my mind

• Am I good enough to deserve this?

• The small selection of photos that I showcased and which had this Impact is it a true representation of my ability or is it a one off lucky occurrence

As much as I liked the recognition and attention I would have no answers to these questions so I will want to go back into hiding.

Now to the festival and the speech. The festival was a well-organized event. It had a great mix of speakers. The work done by the photographers and researchers was amazing. Also the audience was a well-informed one. Seeing some of the work done by the photographers in the audience on their phones was one reason for my question number 1.

I had to improvise my talk at the last minute and had to shorten it as the program was running behind schedule and on the request of the organizers I had to do my bit to help them. I felt as a first timer I did ok. I am giving a link for you to judge how good or bad I was.

A very good friend of mine who is an accomplished public speaker sent me a list to analyze my talk

1. What I prepared

2. What I delivered

3. What I wish I delivered

4. What the audience understood

5. What was reported

I hope I am able to think and improve myself

The festival itself

Sitting through all the presentations and talks helped me learn a few things. For an impactful talk one does not need an amazing PPT or great education. All one needs is clarity of thoughts

For me the Three-standout talks delivered were

• Will Burrad-Lucas the way he spoke about how the Beetlecam was born. For someone who has been a leader in his chosen field he had no airs about himself and was very approachable and humane

• Kulbhhushansingh Suryawanshi he made his talk about his research work on Snow leopard highly informative and interesting without throwing a lot of numbers or technical stuff at the audience.

• The best of talk was by C R Naik a deputy RFO from the Kali tiger reserve. (Wished there was a translator as there were people in the audience who did not understand Kannada) he delivered a talk that came straight from the heart. He knew what he wanted to convey and he kept it simple. Probably the most impactful speech.

The others were no less but I have picked my favorite three.

The Sharks by Anup J Kattukaran and the underwater macros by Nanda Kumar. Was amazing!!!! it was a new world to me.

It was fascinating to hear the story of how the award winning series of the Orangutan was shot by Jayprakash Bojan

The researchers, Scientists, Journalists, movie makers would make great role models for their single minded pursuits of beliefs in a cause

The story of the journey of urban wildlife rehabilitator Abhisheka was fascinating she conveyed how dealing with abandoned animals and birds bring both joy and Bitterness to those doing it.

Learnt about a new profession called botanical Illustrator

The wonderful coffee table book “Leopard on the Rocks “ by a dear friend Dr. Mangat was worth taking home.

Not to forget the lovely collection of images displayed and to see some thoughtful, skillful award winners in various categories of the photography competition

Over all the three days spent at the festival interacting with like minded people was just wow!!!!

A big thanks to the NIF team for having stitched together such a wonderful show.