Wildlife Photograhy - A craze for upcoming newbies.

I happen to come in contact with dozens of youngsters in various social network and their aspiration is to become 'Wildlife Photographers'. I guess, that's the most sought after branch of photography among upcoming newbies today ! I have a very limited exposure which may be almost equal to zero in this field. But I have interacted with many successful Wildlife Photographers. I have heard about their experiences in the wild and the kind of effort they put in to make presentable Wildlife pictures.
In the first place there are three primary factors to take care before anyone can get into the arena of Wildlife photography.
(a) You need enough spare time to devote for serious wildlife pictures.
(b) You need substantial investment in gears eg, Long Tele Zoom or Prime lenses (Fast Lenses)
(c) You need a great deal of patience. You may have to sit for hours in odd position without
movement to get a glimpse of a wildlife ( may be an animal or a bird).
(d) Do quite a bit of homework on the behavioral pattern of the wildlife you are going to photograph. This is particularly imporatant if you are 'birding'.
Here I shall clarify that by Long Lense I am meaning at least 400mm on a DSLR (cropped sensor) and by fast lense I am hinting towards constant f2.8 /f4 Lenses depending on the focal length and these are really expensive. Also you require a good sturdy Monopod with Ball Head or at least a Beanbag. Handholding a long lense won't deliver sharp images almost for sure. Ofcourse, a VR/IS version of the lense will give you far better opportunity of shooting in comparatively low light which is so common in the heart of the jungles and around waterholes where sighting of large mammals is more commom.
Therefore, weekend outings usually don't offer a chance for Wildlife photoghaphy except maybe some birds at a nearby waterbody of bird sanctuary. You need a couple of days uninterrupted holiday in the jungles with a guide who knows the terrain.
My intention of publishing this write up in my Blog is for creating awareness among young upcoming photographers (mainly newbies) who use the term 'Wildlife Photography' very loosely.
Hope beginners who are really keen on Wildlife photography bear these factors in mind before stepping into the fascinating world of 'Wildlife Photography' to avoid frustration.

Digital Imaging - shortcut methods creating mindless photographers.

It is observed since the point & shoot vaieties of Digicams emerged in the market place well within the reach of common people, a new class of photo enthusaists are seen sharing their pictures in various social networking websites.They have gone to the extent of hiring galleries to showcase their work to public. It's something like trying to write peoms without knowing the language in which they are writing. There is no sense of composition, balance and even exposure in some cases( though they use fully automatic point & shoot variety of digicams). I have seen many new DSLR owners mindlessly shooting anything they see and judge as worth photographing. There is no consideration about the content part of a picture, no idea of what kind of lighting makes a picture interesting. It is not their fault but the marketing policy of Digicam manufacturers who have aggressive marketing strategy to penetrate this massive Indian Market.
My humble suggestions to those who are themselves not sure about 'what photography really is' to spend some time and energy to learn the basics of photography as a form of visual art. Photography seems to be a simple hobby, quite affordable to almost everyone but believe me guys, it is not easy to gasp it in a few days. Maybe, the advancement of technology has brought it closer to you but please learn the art of seeing before you freeze a frame. Everything that look photogenic is not worth photographing. The moment you understand this basic concept, you are a photographer.