When other kids of his ages were scouting from one tuition centre to another, young Gaurav Ramnarayan sports a camera and hops from animal reserve to another across the globe with his father.

The young lad, who has just completed his grade 12 from GD School, does not exactly remember when he started handling the camera first. “I think I was five that time,” he chuckles.

The lush garden in his house is a home to a number of birds and squirrels.”That was the beginning,”recalls Gaurav whose favourite spot is Masinagudi in the Nilgiris. A self proclaimed explorer of the wildlife is also a budding tennis player under the tutelage of K.G. Ramesh.

His passion in photography and nature has taken him to SIngapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, London, Macau, Spain and Switzerland.

An avid bird watcher he has pictured more than 450 species. “Sikkim was fantastic where we could capture 140 species in our cameras.Of course we had had faced so many ups and downs. We had to abandon our trip half way when there were tremor.”

The website www.thewildside.in has Gaurav’s clicks that has fetchd him many awards nationallyand internationally. Many of the photographs have been displayed at various museums abroad.

“I want more students and youngsters to take up environmental issues and highlight it through photography for which I will continue my tryst with the camera,” he signs off.