By Steve Winter
Here I go again. I haven’t been home much, went from India to Costa Rica to the office at National Geographic to edit and lay out my snow leopard story—and now, back to India.
This is the first time in my career that I get to stay in a lodge for the whole trip—a place with a bathroom, occasional electricity, and a bed! Even though I’m not packing camping gear, I still have 23 bags—and have five that I left there in July.
This is going to be an incredible trip. I am beginning a story on Kaziranga National Park, in Assam, in northeastern India. It is home to 70 percent of the world’s Indian rhinos, the highest density of tigers in the world, over two thousand Asian elephants, cobras, eagles, and many other species. And I was just informed the other day that since it’s the height of monsoon season, the place is crawling with leeches!
After photographing snow leopards—where we only saw the cats once, with all the pictures made with remote cameras—photographing a place like Kaziranga where I can actually see the animals is going to be amazing. But the challenge is always the same: How to come back with images that you would not expect to see in a place where the animals are standing right in front of you.
An important part of the story is that during monsoon season, animals need to move to higher ground as the Brahmaputra River running through the park overflows its banks. Flooding is really bad right now. Animals are moving out of the national park, which is a big safety issue both for nearby villages and for the animals. So I can’t wait to get there!
Off to the airport for my 14-hour flight to Delhi. Need two vans to fit all my gear.
I just bought my first-ever point and shoot camera—so my photoblog will actually have photos!
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Comments
Sep 20, 2007 11AM #
Oh my god...The Dream of my life...work and travel for the National Geographic...PHOTOGRAPH and NATURE are my passion...Good luck!
Giuseppe Marano
Sep 20, 2007 11AM #
ohh yeah this is what i want to do in the future once i finish my uni.photographing indian nature and wildlife is so much fun .last two years i spent photographing southern part of india on my motorcycle.it was a blast.but now in new zealand studying photograpy.awesome work Steve and HAVE A NICE TIME IN INDIA!!!!!
Sep 20, 2007 11AM #
Its as if you are living through my DREAM!I am very passionate about working for NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC as a PHOTOGRAPHER.Good luck Steve!
Sep 20, 2007 11AM #
Thank you so much for taking us to places we would never get to see. Traveling can be hard work so take care and know how much we appreciate what you and others do.
Sep 20, 2007 11AM #
LOL and my daughter and granddaughter thought they had alot of luggage when they went to India for three weeks in August.
Some day we may see some of her photos in the NG. That's what she's hoping for.
Have fun Steve.
Sep 20, 2007 11AM #
I just returned from India and loved it. So very differnt, full of life, and such wonderful people. I shoot about 10 thousand photos, and that was just in a month. Enjoy the trip, and the experince.
Sep 20, 2007 11AM #
23 bags- any chance of getting an inventory of your photo equipment? You must be prepared for any and all possible situations. But again 23 bags. Do you have assistants on your shoots?
Enjoy the work of National Geo and again I armchair travel with you and your colleagues.
Sep 20, 2007 11AM #
Traveling through airports with the tools of my livelyhood always fills me full of horror, camera kit..hand or hold luggage? There is no point in locking cases now as the security will open them any way..the big question...how do you stop your kit getting stolen.
Sep 20, 2007 11AM #
Wow! That's a lot of bags!
Would love to hear some tips of traveling with gear. Like how you keep it from being broken or worse yet stolen when traveling by air.
I'm living as close to the dream as I can. I was raised on National Geographic, but never had the chance to learn photography much less travel. Now at 50+ I'm shooting and traveling the world. However lugging a 40 pound camera bag, laptop, purse through out the airports is a pain. Also I'm wanting to add a 600mm lens to my bag but that's another 12 pounds and I don't have a bunch of guys helping me. So please share your tips... to us overgrown kids.
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