Indian Photographer Bags First Prize in Nat Geo’s Nature Contest

Varun Aditya won the ‘Animal Portraits’ category with his photo of a green vine snake.

Varun Aditya’s photograph, titled ‘Dragging You Deep Into The Woods’, won first prize in the ‘Animal Portraits’ category. (Image Courtesy: Varun Aditya/National Geographic)

The winners of this year’s National Geographic’s ‘Photographer of The Year’ awards have proved yet again that capturing nature at its best requires a keen eye and impeccable photography skills.

Indian photographer Varun Aditya has bagged the top prize in the ‘Animal Portraits’ category for his image of a green vine snake. Aditya, who hails from Tamil Nadu, shot the image, titled ‘Dragging You Deep Into The Woods’, in Amboli, Maharashtra.

Varun Aditya with his trusty camera. (Photo courtesy: Varun Aditya Photography/Facebook)

Here’s how Aditya managed to capture the winning shot:

A morning stroll into the blissful forest! Ceaseless drizzles dampening the woods for 12 hours a day; The serene gloom which kept me guessing if it was a night or a day. Heavy fog, chilling breeze and the perennial silence could calm roaring sprits; And there I spotted this 20 cm beauty, the Green vine snake ! I wondered if i needed more reasons to capture this with the habitat; For I was blessed to see this at the place I was at. I immediately switched from the macro to the wide angle lens (sic).

Caption of the photograph

He announced his big win on Facebook.