Sidewinding

The last few weeks have been very exciting as we have been traveling to almost all the extreme corners of the country, photographing and filming snakes. From Pit vipers in northeast India to Sind Kraits and Saw-scaled vipers in Rajasthan and to more snakes in the Western Ghats.


Saw-scaled viper sidewinding in the desert

This photograph is one of my favorites from the whole trip and something that I’ve been wanting to photograph for a while now. It was a lot tougher than I thought. I wanted to capture the snake with a wide lens, to shoot the landscape behind it, but then again, this snake is one of the most deadliest snakes in the country and I didn’t want to risk getting bitten. I also had to get a sand dune which overlooked other sand dunes. To make matters worse, I had only one chance per dune to take this shot as once the snake went over it, it would leave its marks behind. I also had to try this early in the morning as the dunes get very hot as the day progresses. After many tries, finally managed this one. I bumped up the contrast a tiny bit in the post to give the dunes more distinct structure.

27 Comments

  1. Radha · July 20, 2010 Reply

    This is simply beautiful Kalyan!

  2. Pramod Viswanath · July 20, 2010 Reply

    Super! When you posted the previous image, I was sure you would have got closer and wider. Glad you shared the image similar to what I had in my mind. When do you plan to post some more images from the extreme corners ?

  3. kaveer rai · July 20, 2010 Reply

    like always ….. mesmerizing

  4. Varun · July 20, 2010 Reply

    Yappa!!! Superb!!

  5. Swati Sani · July 20, 2010 Reply

    Lovely capture, Kalyan.

  6. Rashmi · July 20, 2010 Reply

    What a capture! I was about so say lovely – but I guess “hissssy” would be more appropriate!

  7. Monish · July 20, 2010 Reply

    Awesome, brilliant shot…

  8. Amit Mitra · July 20, 2010 Reply

    Beutiful shot …. excellent composition just love this ….

  9. Kamaljeet Hora · July 20, 2010 Reply

    Beutiful shot

  10. Vijay Venkatesh · July 20, 2010 Reply

    This is truly one of your best shots.

  11. Ankit Agarwal · July 21, 2010 Reply

    Amazing pic. The story behind the picture makes it even more interesting.

  12. kumaraswamy · July 21, 2010 Reply

    Had seen this sort of image in an austin stevens documentary, now here, wonderful image

  13. vinit bajpai · July 25, 2010 Reply

    Kalyan

    Lovely photograph of the saw scaled viper. Did you saw the sind krail also? where all you had been to Rajasthan for this shoot?

    • Kalyan Varma · July 25, 2010 Reply

      Vinit,
      Yes got to photograph the sind krait. We managed to fine two of them on the trip. Shall post those photos very soon 🙂

      Kalyan

      • vinit bajpai · July 25, 2010 Reply

        Dear Kalyan

        Can you kindly tell that where exactly did you find Sind Kraits in Rajasthan and where did you took this sidewinding-saw scaled vipper photograph .request the location as I am currently staying in Jaisalmer and want to try my luck . Saw scaled vipers are quite common and i encounter them on a daily basis but all the specimens are small while the one clicked by you is a big one.

  14. vinit bajpai · July 27, 2010 Reply

    Dear kalyan
    Thanks a ton for your prompt mail. Wishing you all the luck in the days to come. Do visit Jaisalmer sometimes.
    Regards
    Vinit.

  15. Tharangini · July 30, 2010 Reply

    It looks totally frozen in action..that too at the speed with which they move… simply wow..

  16. Smita · August 13, 2010 Reply

    Amazing Pictures Kalyan..
    I must admit that i have absolutely no idea about photography(my bad) so probably my opinion does not count much..
    Anyways Gotta tell you that i have always been repulsed by reptiles(never bothered looking into their pics) yet the reptile in the desert looked great.. in fact even the lizard did..
    Later i googled on similar images and found them, to my surprise quite interesting..
    Thank you for helping me see a beauty i previously ignored…

  17. Vinit Bajpai · August 15, 2010 Reply

    Kalyan
    sent an important mail to you on your INW mail ID. Kindly go through it and send me a reply what you think of it.

    Regards

    Vinit

  18. Avinash · August 30, 2010 Reply

    Hi Kalyan

    Read the article on you in the book \Connect the dots\ . Really liked it. I could appreciate more as i had come to your photography workshop. Well written.

    Avinash

  19. Hariharan Krishnamurthy · September 23, 2010 Reply

    Hi Kalyan ..

    Would it be too much to ask you to have a look at the photos that I have taken while on my visit to Kruger National Park and Sabie?

    I also tried an innovative way to take some good photos … All the above photos were taken with my modest Sony Cybershot 7MP Digital Camera … I enhanced the power of my simple Digital See-and-shoot camera using a Binocular.

    http://know-hari.blogspot.com/2010/09/part-2-krugar-national-park.html

    Would appreciate your comments .. Thanks ..

  20. RANJITH · October 8, 2010 Reply

    kalyan….go head we need more & more………nothing to say…..no words for me to say about u r snaps

  21. Ashutosh Narayan · October 11, 2010 Reply

    Great capture. Sand dunes are so clear

  22. bhargava · July 30, 2011 Reply

    really amaizing

  23. Ramya · January 5, 2012 Reply

    Hello kalyan sir,, its really amazing photos u captured.. its very nice to see ur photos, i would like to watch ur photos continously..

  24. ravi kumar · February 6, 2012 Reply

    mind blowing photography sir, awesome

  25. ravi kumar · February 6, 2012 Reply

    mind blowing photography sir,awesome

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