Padma Shri winner Anup Sah has scaled many misty peaks of the mighty Himalayas in pursuit of pure natural beauty and captured them through his lens.
Always attracted to nature and its beauty, the ace photographer considers his father to be his inspiration. “What I am today is all because of my father,” he says.
An avid trekker, his father would often get his teenage son to accompany him on his treks to the mountains.
It was during those treks that Anup felt the urge to capture those majestic views with a camera.
“A lot of photographers today form agendas when visiting a spot. The picture is already painted in their mind, and they try and replicate it in front of their lens. For me, it was always about honest and pure interaction with nature,” he says.
Recognising his enthusiasm, his father gifted him his first camera — an Agfa Isoly in 1964, thus kickstarting his inspiring journey to the Himalayas and beyond.
This pushed his interests further to go on more expeditions to capture the Himalayan beauty in its entirety.
“From the smallest insects, birds and animals to the towering peaks, the people living there, hill culture, festivals — everything forms the subject of my work,” says Anup.
One of his favourite works is the photograph of Om Parbat in Mansarovar.
Besides being a mountaineer and a photographer, Anup is also a prominent naturalist, apiarist, mushroom expert, and the current chairman of the Naini Tal Mountaineering Club, which was founded by his father.
“Photography is one of the many ways I express my love for nature. My relationship with nature is everlasting. I hope to create a long legacy of people who find their way back into the lap of nature, and stand up to protect and preserve it for generations to come,” he says.