Flight of wild fancy

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When the beautiful bird takes flight and glides across the sky, it is a camera-perfect moment for Laszlo Berta. The wildlife photographer of Hungarian origin is showcasing his exhibition “Odd-One-Out” at Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre, New Delhi. The exhibition features over 40 photographs of birds from India, Sri Lanka and parts of Hungary that Berta shot over a span of 10 years.

And with the reception the exhibition is receiving, Berta says his time and patience has paid off well.
Speaking about the unusual title for his collection, Berta says he is focusing on one special photograph he shot among many. “The title does sound unusual. I am showing photographs of birds and out of all those, one is of a bat which is the odd one out in the collection. Hence, I titled this collection Odd-One-Out,” says Berta.
He travelled to Kerala, Goa and Southern India for shots of some exotic birds and spent a lot of time capturing a perfect frame. “This collection is of my work in the last 10 years. I have tried to choose photographs with a momentum for this exhibition. Each photograph is special as it took hours of patience to capture the right frame. And time and patience is something which challenged me the most. Capturing a good shot is the biggest challenge. The result is for all to see now,” he says.
Time spent in the sub-continent has brought Berta closer to India and Sri Lanka and he has started finding similarities in all three nations, including his. “Both these countries (India and Sri Lanka) are close to my heart. To be honest, I did not feel that I am not in India when I visited Sri Lanka and vice versa. They are so alike. Culturally, India is close to Hungary in many ways. We have a festival similar to Holi in India, called Easter sprinkling in Hungary. The only difference in the two being that here in India people splash colours and water on each other whereas back in Hungary young boys sprinkle perfumes on the girls,” he shares.
Not to rest on his laurels, Berta is already on the road taking more photographs and satisfying his passion for flying objects. “While many photograph animals, I like taking photos of birds. My latest passion is to click aircrafts. I have a special inclination towards flying objects of various species,” ends Berta.