The year 2020 started on a high note as Asian Photography Magazine announced the top 10 most influential people in the Indian photography industry for the year 2020. Nominated in the top 10

it was an ecstatic moment when Sudhir was declared #2.

Sudhir was invited as one of the guests for the Meghalayan Age Festival 2020

the very first initiative by Meghalayan Tourism and E Factors.

In order to showcase the tourism potential of the state

Meghalaya Tourism has launched the maiden edition of the ‘Meghalayan Age Fest

2020’ from 7-15 March 2020 at Shillong

Meghalaya.

This is going to be a unique tourism festival by Meghalayan Tourism and E Factor that will showcase its natural and adventurous wares to the world for the very first time. “This festival will truly be incredible with the major attraction of the Hot Air Balloon Rides

Caving for the adrenaline junkies

and an experience of the unadulterated 'Meghalayan' way of life

” a release by Meghalaya Tourism reads.

Sudhir was invited as one of the speakers at Adobe MAX 2020

the world's biggest annual creative conference.

This was its first-ever all-virtual conference and Adobe broke all records with over half a million attendees tuning in from all over the world for three full days! But the best part is the majority of the sessions were captured on video and are being offered online – for free! With 350+ sessions and hundreds of inspiring speakers

MAX 2020 was an groundbreaking event

You can watch Sudhir's session here:
https://www.adobe.com/max/2020/sessions/wildlife-photography-technical-and-creative-skills-od5127.html

Here was a different campaign that Sudhir was a part of in October 2019. He found himself in front of TV cameras

as he was shot for an episode of ‘Ride to Conquer’ by History TV18.

The episode

aired in November 2019

captured Sudhir’s journey to the idyllic Valparai (Tamil Nadu) in search of the endemic lion-tailed macaques. This 30-minute video capsule also told a little story about how Sudhir typically goes about his wildlife shoots

starting from his travel plans to his equipment kit to actually shooting in the wild and finally processing the images.

The fact that Sudhir was chosen to represent the wildlife photography community speaks volumes of his growing stature and influence in this realm. Below are the links to view this episode on Facebook and YouTube respectively.

https://www.facebook.com/238044912896496/posts/2858037587563869/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laoGJGsVQk4

In February 2019

Sudhir was approached by top Kannada movie actor

Darshan

to mentor him in wildlife photography.

Darshan

was at that time the ambassador for the Karnataka Forest Department

and was looking to hold an exhibition/sale of his images as a fundraiser for the department. Sudhir traveled with him to some of the forests in Karnataka and mentored him on the finer aspects of shooting in the wild. Sudhir also curated the images for the exhibition

which went on to become a huge success and raised a substantial amount.

Darshan later signed up for Sudhir’s Mara workshop to continue his photography learning quest.

In August 2019

Sudhir was handpicked to become a Sony Artisan and be part of an elite panel of illustrious photographers in India. He now tests their latest equipment and provides feedback from a wildlife photographer’s perspective.

In September 2019

Sudhir was visiting faculty at the Symbiosis School of Photography

Pune. As part of this

he mentored the students on campus for two days before taking them on-field to the Ranthambhore National Park for some hands-on teaching and real time action. Sudhir provided valuable inputs in the wildlife genre of photography to the young people who are all set to explore photography as a potential career path.

The Chinmaya International Residential School is one of the top schools of the country

renowned for its focus on holistic development of children. Set in the outskirts of the Coimbatore

its sprawling campus provides the ideal environment for children to blossom into well rounded adults.
Their curriculum has the ideal mix of academics and extra curricular activities to nurture young minds and expose them to a variety of experiences that will shape them into sensitive

empathetic adults. Sudhir addressed this bright and inquisitive bunch of young adults at a TEDx event hosted at the school campus. His ‘Lessons from the wild for young minds’ served up a slice of life account while stressing the importance of wildlife conservation with compelling videos and pictures.

Sudhir never misses a chance to interact with children. He strongly believes that children can be the frontrunners of change

especially in issues related to our environment and wildlife. And that this can be brought about with the right kind of education and awareness

Click here to see the presentation. Lessons from the wild for young minds

#ShareYourDiscovery was a unique adventure conservation initiative by Land Rover in association with Condé Nast Traveller.
This voyage of discovery was undertaken to bring to the fore the challenges confronting the state of wildlife in India; specifically

the highly endangered red panda and black necked crane and their habitat in North East India. With conservation at its heart

the whole premise of this initiative was to highlight some of the serious issues such as habitat loss and excessive human interference that ultimately push numerous bird and animal species to the brink of extinction.

During February 2018

Sudhir drove through the hinterlands of India’s North Eastern regions alongside other influencers in the wildlife/journalism space. The 10 day odyssey was aimed at creating conversations around India’s endangered wildlife and the shine the spotlight on some of the less known regions that harbour these dwindling species.

It was an honour and privilege to be part of such an elite event by a prestigious brand like Land
Rover and be featured with other leading influencers and thinkers.

The Madhya Pradesh Forest Department

together with the Madhya Pradesh Tourism and the Madhya Pradesh Tiger Foundation Society

invited Sudhir to be part of an initiative to explore the Sanjay Dubri Tiger Reserve in a bid to develop and promote it as a leading tiger destination.

With this special invite extended to him

Sudhir went on to conduct a tour of this place. Though not his typical photography learning tour

Sudhir did lead a small but highly enthusiastic group of wildlife and photography lovers to explore the place and its potential for mainstream tiger tourism.

Through his FB Live sessions and other social media posts

he introduced this as yet low profile park to the larger fraternity and generated a positive buzz around the place.

Sudhir again figured in the Top 100 Photographers on the Web for 2018.

In January 2017

Asian Photography unveiled their awards for the year 2016

placing Sudhir as the third most influential person in the Indian photography industry. Third place

third consecutive award

a very proud moment indeed! Especially considering

the CEO/MD of Canon and CEO/MD of Nikon were placed first and second respectively. Making Sudhir the most influential individual in the Indian photography industry.

The year 2018 started on a high note as Asian Photography Magazine announced the top 10 most influential people in the Indian photography industry. Nominated in the top 10

it was an ecstatic moment when Sudhir was declared #1.

In recognition of his overall achievement and stupendous body of work in the photography realm

Sudhir received the “ICIT Photography Award 2018” in February 2018.

ICIT (Innovative Council for Indian Tourism). At a glittering awards ceremony at the White Rann Resort in the Greater Rann of Kutch

Sudhir received the award with other achievers in the industry.

During October of 2018

Sudhir’s YouTube Channel Sudhir Shivaram Photography was awarded the ‘Silver Button Award’ by YouTube. Although conferred on channels that have surpassed a subscriber-ship of 100

000

YouTube generally exercises discretion while handing out the award. Along with the required subscriber base

the channel needs to have high quality

original content

to be considered for the award.

Sudhir was invited as one of the guest speakers at Adobe MAKE IT

an annual global event held at Sydney

Australia. His session was about how technology aids in Wildlife photography. The overall event was attended by more than 2000 people and had an online viewership of more than 50

000 people from the Asia Pacific region.

In January 2017

Asian Photography unveiled their awards for the year 2016

placing Sudhir as the third most influential person in the Indian photography industry. Third place

third consecutive award

a very proud moment indeed! Especially considering

the CEO/MD of Canon and CEO/MD of Nikon were placed first and second respectively. Making Sudhir the most influential individual in the Indian photography industry.

Click here to see the entire list of awardees – the veritable movers and shakers of the industry. Learn more.

What better way to announce Sudhir’s third Asian Photography award than carrying his image as cover shot for the Feb 2017 issue.

To elaborate a bit more on the Asian Photography awards – it is the most coveted award in the Indian photography industry

where the most influential people including CEOs

managers and business heads of top companies (such as Canon

Nikon

Sony

HP

and the like); photography institutes; and individual photographers are nominated. To ensure that the whole process remains impartial and unbiased

jury members are picked from outside of the industry. The members evaluate the nominees and their contributions based on a wide range of parameters and score them accordingly.

The 2017 rankings by xxlpix once again place Sudhir at #12 (Points: 152

19 WPI*) in the list of the top 100 best known photographers worldwide.

Here is the full list.

As per the xxlpix website

the Web Popularity Index (WPI) takes into consideration the three key factors of the social web: reach

interaction with users

and external references. Thousands of social media and web indicators for popular photographers of the present day were collected during the survey period and evaluated for the creation of the index.

We analysed: fans

followers and subscribers on Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Pinterest

Flickr

Tumblr

500px and other social networks

ratios for interaction with subscribers

fans and followers

as well as references for the photographers’ publications.

As one of the main speakers at the third Karnataka Bird Festival (KBF) at Hampi-Daroji

Sudhir spoke at length about the “Techniques in Bird Photography.” The KBF is one of the prominent events related to wildlife and nature conservation and is attended by leading experts and enthusiasts from India and worldwide.

Sudhir has been a guest speaker at both the previous editions of this program. Learn more.

Sudhir was invited as a speaker at the TEDx SIBM Bangalore.

Click here to see the presentation. 0-3 Seconds!!

TEDxSIBMBengaluru

Top 14 Bird Photographers in the World

their Achievements

and their Goals!
Widely followed blog

Nature Photography Simplified featured Sudhir as one of the top 14 bird photographers in the world

alongside other stalwarts including Alan Murphy

Andy Rouse

et al.

You can read the blog with Sudhir’s snappy interview here.

January 2016 was déjà vu time for Sudhir. He made it to the list of Top 10 Influential People in Photography (in India

for the year 2015) again! This time at the 2nd spot. This was a validation of his caliber and his standing in the industry.

The prominent photography products/services online marketplace

xxlpix

routinely analyzes web data and publishes the list of TOP100 web photographers biannually. In 2016

Sudhir made it to this list both times. First time at the #11 spot and then at #12. Both times he was ranked #1 in the Nature/Wildlife subcategory.

The Karnataka Bird Festival serves as a platform for birders

conservationists

and wildlife enthusiasts in general to congregate and celebrate their shared love for birds

nature

and wildlife. The second festival was held at Kulgi Nature Camp

in the Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve. Sudhir was invited as one of the key speakers for this event.

January 9

2015 was a momentous day for Sudhir as he went on to be acknowledged as the 5th most influential person in the Indian photography industry for the year 2014

at the Asian Photography Awards. Sudhir was the only individual to figure in the list that featured corporate bigwigs. Some of the top names included the country head of HP India

senior director of Canon India

country manager of Sandisk India

among others.

“Life is not about what you couldn't do so far

it’s about WHAT YOU STILL CAN. Life isn't about finding yourself

Life is about CREATING yourself.” Words that have influenced and shaped Sudhir.

These little nuggets of wisdom and lots of practical advice on how to turn your passion into your profession – Sudhir talks about it all in the February 2015 issue of the Asian Photography magazine.

The Karnataka Bird Festival (KBF) was envisaged as an annual event to showcase the wealth of bird life in the state. An initiative of the Karnataka Ecotourism Board and the Karnataka Forest Department

the KBF is South India’s biggest bird festival. At its first edition held at Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary

Sudhir spoke eloquently on Advanced Bird Photography. The participants gained immensely from Sudhir’s in-depth subject matter knowledge as also his vast experience in this genre of photography.

Sudhir was one of the speakers at Adobe’s Create NOW event where they unveiled the latest version of their Creative Cloud which was held at Mumbai.

Sudhir took social media engagement to the next level with his broadcast of the Masai Mara great migration live on Facebook in September 2015. Jaw-dropping scenes streamed live as scores of fans worldwide lapped up all the action as it happened. He is the first person in the world to broadcast The Great Migration LIVE on Facebook.

The Yellow Border Award is given to the best cover across 14 language editions of the National Geographic Traveller magazine worldwide. NatGeo Traveller India's September 2013 issue won the award for that year. The image of a pair of great Indian pelicans was shot by Sudhir at Bharatpur

one of India’s top birding destinations. Dreamlike and ethereal

it’s no surprise that this image was chosen as the best among the best.

US software major Adobe invited Sudhir to be on their panel of speakers at the Adobe Photography Symposium. Speaking on his “Path Towards Professional Photography

” Sudhir enthralled the audience

mostly comprising serious hobbyists and aspiring professional photographers

sharing his personal trials

tribulations

and triumphs along his career path.

Sudhir’s cover image of the Greater Flamingo set the tone for nine full pages of articles

interviews

tips-tricks

and more images in the February 2014 edition of the Asian Photography magazine. In this issue

Sudhir talks at length about his journey from being a hobby photographer to becoming one of the most recognised names in the Indian photography industry.

The surrealistic frame of a pair of pelicans in water with a darter pair forming the backdrop captures the essence of Bharatpur's brilliant landscape. NatGeo Traveller (India) were impressed enough to make it their cover shot.

India’s most prestigious wildlife/photography award – Sanctuary’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year – was conferred on Sudhir in 2012. His iconic image of the slumberous leopard on the tree received the top honour. The award recognized Sudhir’s artistic eye as much as it did his technical skill. The hugely popular picture

along with the story behind it

remains one of Sudhir’s personal favourites.

More about it on Sanctuary Asia website.