Dubai : A Dubai-based photographer has struck gold with a ‘spur of the moment' photograph while on holiday in Africa.
Sankha Kar, chief photographer at XPRESS, bagged the fourth-place gold medal in one of the biggest photographic contests in the world - the Al Thani Award for Photography 2009 - for his shot of wildebeest breaking through a sleepy afternoon in the Serengeti two years ago. "You could feel life beating on the earth. I found myself so close to the wildebeest migration - millions of them running about, looking for food," said Kar of his picture which won under the animal category.
He, however, never expected to win a gold medal for the snap which was taken on the spur of the moment when he was at the Tanzanian National Park. "It was my first experience of shooting wildlife in the open. I usually take news pictures in the city," the Indian photojournalist said.
"The soft light [in Africa] was just right; you can see shadows playing in the dust through the air. It gives you a sense of the action."
Kar is no stranger to bagging professional awards and his pictures have often graced XPRESS covers and added value to front-page stories in Gulf News.
