From a galaxy far, far away
The sky is the muse for astro-photographer Navaneeth Unnikrishnan who loves clicking pictures of deep space objects and landscapes.
The cosmic Milky Way, spread out vistas and vast constellations caught photographer Navaneeth Unnikrishnan’s attention to direct his lens towards the dreamy and faraway components. After pottering around with an entry level Canon DSLR, Navaneeth found his calling that transcended beyond galaxies through his observant lens.
His most recent photographs feature images of the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney and the Brisbane Bridge, but when the sky becomes his muse, you get to see the fascinating depth of his pictorial talent. “I liked clicking pictures of landscapes and deep space objects. I began astrophotography after witnessing the Milky Way with my naked eye from my own backyard and finally capturing it on my DSLR. This was on August 27, 2013. Most of whatever I do is based on experimentation through trial and error and later developing my own unique workflow to process these images,” says the Mahe-based boy from Kerala, who is now living in Manipal where he is pursuing media studies.
Many of his photographs narrate silent but vivid and introspective stories and even though he has been widely featured in BBC Earth, National Geographic, Space.com, Astronomy.com and Air India, the photographer claims that one of his favourite images is a panorama that was taken last year from Spiti Valley.
The winner of the Nat Geo Traveller India Contest, National Students Space Challenge 2014, 2015, 2016 hosted by IIT Kharagpur and Campus Diaries 25 under 25, Navaneeth might be known for his astro-lensmanship but his landscapes and spontaneous profile photographs also have a direct and emotive quality that stands out in brilliant colours. “I have no clue what makes my pictures different, maybe it’s how I capture normal places with the starry sky instead of sunrise and sunset,” says the photographer, adding that he’s just “a normal guy with a camera”.
Photography, he sheepishly admits, keeps him busy, so there is no time for other hobbies. He is now focusing on an Astro-Landscape Workshop which is conducted in Spiti Valley in June and August. Impressionist paintings on camera, his eye for the extraordinary is ensuring that he reaches for the stars, quite literally. Commenting on the selfie and Instagram rage, he shares, “I am not much of a selfie person. But Instagram, of course, is a growing platform for sharing your work, and it attracts lots of clients and brands, it is a pretty good platform for a photographer.”
He considers Michael Shainblum, Daniel Kordan, Marc Adamus, Ted Gore among his favourite photographers, “These guys are some of the best landscape photographers and their frames and processing techniques are perfect,” he concludes.