Krupakar and Senani are wildlife photographers from

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. They have produced the wildlife film

Wild Dog Diaries ''Wild Dog Diaries'' is a wildlife film portraying the behaviour of wild dogs (''Dhole, Cuon alpinus''). The film was directed by the photographer duo of Krupakar-Senani and mainly filmed in the Bandipur National Park and the Mudumalai National P ...

for

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

. For this documentary they won the following awards: * Festival de l'Oiseau et de la Nature 2008 (Abbeville, France) – Best Nature Documentary Award * Japan Wildlife Film Festival 2007 (Toyama, Japan) – Best of Festival Grand Award * CMS Vatavaran Environment and Wildlife Film Festival 2007 (New Delhi, India) – Best of Festival Award and Best Story Award * Asian Television Awards 2007 (Singapore) – Best Natural History and Wildlife Programme * Wildscreen 2006 (Bristol, UK) – nominated for Panda Award * NaturVision 2006 (Neuschoenau, Germany) – nominated for Best International Film. The film was also aired by ARTE in France and Germany. Presently, they are producing a film on

wild dog A free-ranging dog is a dog that is not confined to a yard or house. Free-ranging dogs include street dogs, village dogs, stray dogs, feral dogs, etc., and may be owned or unowned. The global dog population is estimated to be 900 million, of w ...

s for Discovery Channel. Krupakar studied

business administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

at D Banumaiah's College in

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

where he played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

for Mysore University. He also worked as a journalist in

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...

and later in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

before taking up photography professionally with Senani Hegde. Senani Hegde is a graduate in

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

from Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering in Mysore. He gave up a lucrative construction business to pursue

wildlife photography Wildlife photography is a genre of photography concerned with documenting various forms of wildlife in their natural habitat. As well as requiring photography skills, wildlife photographers may need field craft skills. For example, some anima ...

with Krupakar. Together they wrote photo essays for popular magazines. In the beginning, they studied small birds in

Mandya district Mandya District is an administrative district of Karnataka, India. The district is bordered on the south by Mysore district, Mysore and Chamarajanagar district, Chamarajangar districts, on the west by Hassan District, on the north by Tumkur Di ...

, capturing the life of capricious birds and recorded their adaptation to changing habitat. Simultaneously, they wrote popular articles on these birds recording their experiences and weaving sociological aspects. Later they moved to Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. Their book 'Jeeva Jaala', co-authored with K. Puttaswamy, won the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award 1999 for science writing. They received Karnataka Rajyothsava Award in 2006, the state's highest award, from the Government of Karnataka, for their overall contribution to the field of photography. Their pictures have been published in international magazines such as GEO, The Times, People, BBC Wildlife, Nature. Oxford Scientific Films, UK, market their photographs. Krupakar and Senani, along with the then forest officer D Yathish Kumar, have been instrumental in the formation and functioning of ''Namma Sangha'', a conservation effort on the fringes of

Bandipur National Park Bandipur National Park is a national park covering in Chamarajnagar district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It was established as a tiger reserve under Project Tiger in 1973. It is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve since 1986. History ...

in south India. The society has been very successful in reducing the pressure of removal of fuelwood from the forest, by introducing cooking gas in the villages around the park. The society's network includes 194 villages, and so far 29,000 families are using cooking gas. The uniqueness of this project was funded entirely by friends and well-wishers, without any foreign and government assistance. The project is now self-sustained, and has become a model for other such endeavours. In October 2010, Krupakar and Senani won the prestigious Green Oscar award for their film on dhole ''The Pack'' in the prestigious Wildscreen film festival held at Bristol, UK. "The Pack" was produced and directed in the dense forests of Nilgiris for over a decade and unfolds the lifestyle of dhole. It was the first film produced and directed in Asia to be nominated for this award and competed against

David Attenborough's Life Stories ''David Attenborough's Life Stories'' is a series of monologues written and spoken by British broadcaster David Attenborough on the subject of natural history. They were broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009 as part of the station's "Point of View ...

and another film by the National Geographic channel. Krupakar and Senani received the honours from noted scientist

George Schaller George Beals Schaller (born 1933) is a German-born American mammalogist, biologist, conservationist and author. Schaller is recognized by many as the world's preeminent field biologist, studying wildlife throughout Africa, Asia and South Americ ...

Kidnap By Veerappan

Krupakar and Senani both were kidnapped by the Indian bandit

Veerappan Koose Munisamy Veerappan (18 January 1952 – 18 October 2004) was an Indian bandit turned domestic terrorist who was active for 36 years, and kidnapped major politicians for ransom. He was charged with sandalwood smuggling and poaching o ...

in October 1997 mistaking as an important government officials, and after holding them captive for two weeks, he released them.

References

{{authority control Photographers from Karnataka Recipients of the Rajyotsava Award 2006