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Olive ridley turtles released
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Olive ridley turtles released

by Kedar Bhat

Gallery: Man & FaunaPosted March 4, 2009863 views8 comments
Hatchlings of 'Olive ridley turtles' march towards the sea during 2nd Turtle festival organised by a NGO Sahyadri Nisarg mitra, forest department and Velas Grampanchayat at Velas village, Mandangad Taulka in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, INDIA.

A total of about 2000 turtle hatchlings from 105 nests were successfully released this year from protected turtle nests in 30 villages along 720km shore of Maharashtra. Female Olive ridley turtles lay eggs in pits on the sand along the shore from Nov to march every year. In about 50 days eggs hatch and the newborns come out of the nests and instinctively march towards the sea and begin their lives.

camera: Nikon D80
Lens : Sigma 10~20mm
Flash : Nikon SB800

Comments

8 comments
Comment posted by Hank Pennington on March 4, 2009 at 10:37 AM
Usually the partial spill of flash in outdoor photos distracts, but in this case it somehow adds to the sense of scale and movement of the two turtles. Along with that great sky and distant horizon, you have achieved a great sense that these youngsters are moving out into the bigger world.

Nicely done! It will be a very effective photo to help report on success of the efforts to help the species.
Registered on November 1, 2003, 226 Posts, 1532 Comments
Comment posted by Bruce Palla on March 4, 2009 at 11:51 PM
Beautiful shot!! A sense of hope for me.
Registered on December 19, 2007, 25 Posts, 328 Comments
Comment posted by Steve Foss on March 5, 2009 at 10:50 AM
Kedar, there are a few key compositional aspects that make this work very nicely as a photo outside of its EPJ impact. As Hank mentioned, I think the fairly narrow pool of flash carries impact, and I also enjoy the tiny dot of an orange sun and the diagonal line drawn by the foam.

As EPJ, this is an effective image that carries the power of hope.
Registered on June 7, 2006, 90 Posts, 525 Comments
Comment posted by Kedar Bhat on March 6, 2009 at 2:25 PM
Thanks you all for the comments.

the flash in the photo was an off camera flash from camera left and i deliberately wanted the partial spill. Its fun watching these little ones making their first journey :smile:
Registered on April 7, 2008, 77 Posts, 357 Comments
Comment posted by Stuart Williams on March 12, 2009 at 4:38 AM
kedar, it must have been fun and exciting to watch these little guys heading out. your image, with the light spill is very effective. the compsition, with the diagonal, horizon and the sun all work well. well done.
Registered on December 7, 2007, 247 Posts, 4792 Comments
Comment posted by Aristotle Georgiou on March 13, 2009 at 4:25 AM
WOW stunning image Kedar

I would love to witness this one day!
Congratulations on EP!!! :toast:
Registered on August 24, 2008, 38 Posts, 293 Comments
Comment posted by Doug Benner on March 15, 2009 at 8:19 AM
This is really neat to see. Congratulations.
Registered on December 8, 2003, 482 Posts, 1868 Comments
Comment posted by Wayne Willison on July 9, 2009 at 8:39 PM
Thios one slipped by me until now. Marvelous image. Looks like the hatchlings have a long way to go.
Registered on April 10, 2009, 292 Posts, 3967 Comments