next generation photography......how do we title this ? "walking into the lens"....

this is my dream!!!!!!!!!!!!just fantastic shot...sir..i like this very much .since i have been observing this kind of shot and techniques in national geographic channel..,. was thinking weather i m gonna be able to shoot like this somday or not ..full marks to this fantastic image ..and the composition is perfect .

Are you still keeping your camera exposed to the bears or found some fibre mould stuff to keep your camera inside and shoot ? One day we might get to see a D700 getting chewed. Now about the image, the last few days I had been thinking of these images. Yes it gives a very different perspective but these techniques can come handy to see such behaviour which we do not get to see otherwise. The importance of this technique in showing a lion or a tiger or bear walking on it's path and showing curiosity on a stuff unidentified to it would soon perhaps fade out, unless this strong technique shows some rare species or some rare moments. This is where your image is so different. Never seen such intense looks of a bear, curiosity exposed I would say . Execution, presentation and composition is always flawless and perfect. The idea of making an image is more stronger than seeing through the view finder. Good to see these one's again. The night image too is just amazing.

Praveen what about naming this Curiosity Personified , or The Exposed Curiosity ?

The importance of this technique in showing a lion or a tiger or bear walking on it's path and showing curiosity on a stuff unidentified to it would soon perhaps fade out

Perfect - you are spot on with that observation Nilanjan. Infact I was thinking other day whether a closed eyes connected to mind is as powerful as the open eyes. I think next step for me in this direction is to master the technique to the level of "open eyes" and portray the perspectives/behaviors (not just curiosity towards the new object) which otherwise are not available using regular techniques. It is tough and frustrating at times but I *think* can be mastered over time. It takes about one and half hours to two hours for me to set up a trap now. Every detail need to meticulously worked out - for example some set up error caused 12GB worth of empty sky images during my last trip and it took some time for me to understand mysterious triggering of camera without anything showing up in the frame. During last several months I have been experimenting with these techniques with different kind of trap/unmanned devices, I think it can be mastered over time - but not without first baby steps - these images indeed are those first baby steps. That said the above image is not representative of possibilities that these techniques offer. The perspectives like these below are possible using this technique which are not "subject looking at the new device" out there

http://naturelyrics.com/galleries/fauna ... ney_1.html
http://naturelyrics.com/galleries/fauna ... ood_1.html
http://naturelyrics.com/galleries/fauna ... rocks.html

Some of these perspectives are not possible otherwise. Then we have a question on natural history aspect of these images. My take on them being, purpose of nature photography goes beyond portraying natural history alone. Portraying the forms/shapes/colors of nature in a unique way that touches human senses is an integral part of nature photography. Not that there is no place for portraying natural history using such techniques, it indeed is there - if we can spend multiple weeks/months in the field.

At the end the question of open eyes and closed ones still remain open. May be time will answer though I am fairly confident about possibilities.

Anup Shah seem to have mastered this quite well. Some of his collections here in the below link. While there are images of "curious look" there
are other stunning perspectives there -

http://www.shahimages.com/index/gallery ... mages.html


Coming to animals chewing camera, I recently worked with someone and got a hard hollow stone designed which houses my camera so the safety of camera *may* be a non-issue (not sure of the lens though).

I am just glad I know this maestro

one good aspect of this kind of photography i feel is that u have a lot more of intimacy to the subject.....u can really feel the subject.....imagine watching this image at a size of 4'x6' print on archival paper which gives more depth to image....it would be a great experience.....i saw a talk by national geographic editor chris jones about his fav image made last year was that of elephants photographed at samburu by nick nicholas using wide angle lenses....the point he made was that when we see the images we can go close and feel them....same type of comment was made on one of the image of snow leopard by steve winter......
coming to this image...once this image was posted every few hours i come back to see this image again and again...each time i see this , feel like touching the nose of the bear...probable a new emotion that is being triggered in our mind by perspectives like this....that is y i mentioned earlier that this is next generation photography...

Agree with Praveen on the next generation photography. If the last trip to Daroji was path breaking this one is revolutionary. And good choice choosing a location far from the usual rocky terrain we are so used to seeing from Daroji.

Honestly, I don't think this image deserves 9 from creativity perspective since it resembles some of those trap images. However I think usage of this technique today appears focussed more on getting perspectives like this or other perspectives which I think mostly
are accidental and un-planned. For example this image
retained in my files since I kind of liked what I *got* (an after thought). That said, un-manned photography can open up a new array of opportunities more so for unique wildlife photography at night. Only aspect which may come in our way of us weekend photographers is amount of time that we need for planning and execution of such plans in field. I did try some of those but ended up with nice black rectangle frames

I am trying to subtract the bear from the image and am trying to see if the image still has a creative element to it.
Looks like in unmanned photography there are some elements in control and a set of elements that are totally out
of control. Assuming we have a unique point of view for the elements that are in control will an unmanned image still fall
under creative genre ?

Hope i did not sound vague and abstract. BTW i have not tried any of this myself so i might be totally wrong.