Lift up your head...

They are "portions of genius":

by Aditha Dissanayake

Born in Sri Lanka, but now residing in Auckland, New Zealand Sunil Gunaratne has pursued bird and wildlife photography as a hobby for the past thirty years. The results of the uncountable number of hours he spent traversing through the wild-life parks, jungles and shrubs of Sri Lanka is now collected under the simple title of Portraits - Birds of Sri Lanka in the form of a coffee table book.

'Portraits' - surely is an apt title, for, as he adjusts the lens of his camera, as he waits breathlessly for that perfect moment to click on the beautiful yet illusive model in front of him, Sunil holds silent conversations with his subject.

Coming across the Eurasian Thick-Knee under a shady bush in a scrub land and finding the large, yellow goggle like eyes staring at him, he feels the small, lethargic bird who hardly ever moves during the day, is asking him "What are you staring at me for?"

"Well, I want your portrait" replies Sunil. And is happy when 'Thick-knees' grumpily does, pose for the camera.

Talking about how he had captured the authentic, lifelike presence of these feathered companions, as they are seen in their natural habitat Sunil says when he is in the jungle, he starts his mission at about 6 a.m., just when daybreaks. "It's no use going before that because we need enough light for photographing." explains Sunil.

The best time is in the morning and towards the evening from about 4 p.m. onwards. Confessing that there are some days when he will not get a single good photograph, he says, I have learned to accept this as a common feature in this game".

Sunil feels this is the most important issue in bird photography, if you cannot accept disappointment, you cannot do bird photography.

Going through the magnificent photos, it is hard to believe him when he says everything he knows about photography was learned from books and the internet and that he has had no professional training in photography. Here is proof how enthusiasm, dedication and a deep passion for a subject can overcome every barrier on the path to success.

Success? He has only a modest grin to give for an answer. But he believes the credit for what he has achieved today should go to his father. "When we were kids, my father used to take us on pilgrimages, to temples and meditation centres in remote areas in the country, at least once every three months.

All of us, my mother, two brothers and two sisters really enjoyed these trips. This made us appreciate and admire the beauty and value of nature." Sunil recalls going on his first trip to Wilpattu on his own (without his father or any of his family members) in 1972, with his neighbours at the time, Sam de Silva, Rani, Araliya and Aravinda.

The latter who was six or seven at the time would later become a world famous cricketer. Realizing most people do not know, or see the value of our jungles, animals, birds, etc. Sunil had decided he would make them see "by means of photos".

Having been a businessman all his life, he agrees business and photography are a strange combination but explains, "I always do my photography work during 'non working hours' and during weekends. I did it as a hobby at first, and never had the intention of doing a book on birds".

Having migrated to New Zealand only about 1 1/2 years ago Sunil says all the photos for the book were done before he left Sri Lanka. "All my photo equipment are still here in Sri Lanka and whenever I come to Sri Lanka, I use them for my photo work. I really want to go for volume 2 of this book for which I have already collected some photos".

Even though he is now living in New Zealand Sunil says his heart is still in Sri Lanka. He was surprised when, having applied for New Zealand Immigration without really thinking seriously about migrating, his application for some reason or another, was approved. "And here I am now in NZ. But still thinking of Sri Lanka and wanting to come back to my own country some day."

He hopes to visit Sri Lanka at least twice or thrice a year when time permits and as soon as his son and daughter, are old enough to manage on their own, to come back once more to his motherland. "I shall definitely come back with my wife to Sri Lanka." he says with determination.

Moving back to photography, he says his most unforgettable moment, in the past thirty years of bird photography was in Wilpattu.

"My jeep was bogged in a river at the top boarder of Wilpattu about 25 years ago for 1 1/2 days. I was with a few of my friends and we didn't even have water to drink, until two of us walked to the nearest village called Silavuturai, for help.

That was unforgettable as we had to go without water, food, and also without a torch in the night. Whenever we needed any light , we had to use the park lights of the jeep for a moment - but only for a moment as we didn't want to waste the battery in order to start the engine once the vehicle was out of the river."

All in a days work. For Sunil says he thrives on meeting challenges. "I always like to do difficult tasks, and once decided, it will be done to an end and to my satisfaction. This is the reason why I decided to do bird photography. Photographing birds is not an easy task, one needs patience, sharpness and determination to achieve this.

You will have to waste a lot of time in the jungle which I love to do." Has he got any favourite or memorable photo among the collection in Portraits? "No" says Sunil. "But I can definitely say that when I look at all the photos I can remember the way I saw the bird through the lens at the time, and where it was taken, and around what time I got it and on which trip I got it..

These details will never be erased from my mind.." It is marvellous how a photo can get embedded into the mind never to be erased.

His advice to amateur photographers: "One has to learn to see the beauty of birds by seriously observing the shape, colours, size and details etc, then you will start to love to look at the bird. At this stage, you will want to show the beauty of the bird to others and the best way to do this is by means of photography. So any one who wants to do bird photography, should start by looking at the beauty of a bird".

In other words, as William Blake said, when you see a bird you are looking at a "portion of genius.

Lift up thy head".

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