Judge excels in nature photography

Suharshi Perera

PHOTOGRAPHY: He adjudicates in cases featuring criminals and lawbreakers but not nature and its inherent beauty. He slowly sneaks into the territory of nature where the law of the jungle rules and stealthily captures its concealed splendour in his camera lenses.

Sunil De Costa is District Judge, Anuradhapura with a photographic eye. Criminals as well as picturesque moments cannot escape him.

"I photograph ruins, waterfalls and wildlife," Costa says. Wherever he travels he captures beautiful moments and the scenic beauty of nature.

"It was totally accidental", he describes how he developed an eye for photography. "At the age of nine, when I was studying at Carey College I got a camera.

I clicked whatever around me but after some time I had to keep my camera aside to give priority to my studies".

He finished his school education from Trinity College, Kandy and graduated from the University of Peradeniya in Mathematics and Philosophy. Later he entered the Law College to begin his career in law.

In 1994 Costa was posted to the Anuradhapura Magistrate Court, the ancient city heaved with ruins, wildlife and the untouched scenic beauty. The environment reopened his photographic eye which was in a state of slumber for years.

Encouraging remarks

"I used to develop my photographs from Nine Hearts. Once they organised an exhibition titled 'Wild Metallic' to promote a special photographic paper. They were highly impressed with my photographs and invited me to take part in the exhibition.

The visitors' book carried encouraging remarks on my photography and that was my first public photographic exposure," Costa recalls.

Costa held his first solo exhibition on waterfalls in Sri Lanka. It displayed 110 photographs of waterfalls, mainly located in the paths of jungles hidden from the public eye.

"Those were the photographs I clicked when I was serving in Kandy where the jurisdiction extended up to parts of the Nuwara Eliya administrative district," he says. He travelled to Mathurata and Hanguranketha and many other remote places to capture the waterfalls gushing from high mountain tops to greet rocks down with a beautiful splash.

Landmark

"Former Presidential Secretary Hemasiri Fernando who is a close friend of mine persuaded me to hold the exhibition on waterfalls which was sponsored by J.F Tours," Costa says with gratitude.

Then he held another exhibition at the Alliance Francaise. Rockland Distilleries sponsored his landmark exhibition titled "Dusk and Dawn" which carried exquisite moments of sunrise and sunset photographed at different locations in Sri Lanka.

"I have seized many beautiful sunsets and sunrises in my photographs from almost all parts of the country except Jaffna," Costa says proudly.

Costa is arranging his photographs for his fifth solo exhibition titled "Feathers" sponsored by Singer Sri Lanka to be held at the Harold Peries Gallery at the Lionel Wendt for three days from July 29.

'The Feathers' will display 147 photos of birds including over 70 species of endemic and resident birds of Sri Lanka that were photographed in and outside national parks and in villages.

"I live in Ganemulla close to Gampaha in my ancestral house with a huge garden where different birds freely move around," he says. "I have photographed 45 leopards and tuskers too.

But birds are difficult to photograph, as they are very tiny creatures with a high sensitivity. When you move closer they fly away immediately. So you have to be quick and exploit the opportunity".

Zoom lens

Costa uses a 500 metre zoom lens camera. When photographing birds, their colours and the light condition are very important factors, Costa says.

"I went to Sinharaja forest in February and learnt that the Sri Lankan Blue Magpie or Kehibella which is endemic to Sri Lanka nests outside the forest. So I waited for more than 2 1/2 hours in a gutter till the bird arrived and I was badly attacked by hundreds of leeches," he recalls a difficult moment he has experienced.

Bird watching and photographing is a specific area, he says. "When I was in Anuradhapura, a friend of mine highly interested in birds visited me. He wanted to watch birds in Kalawewa. That time I was highly bored but now I have a profound interest for birds and I study them too," Costa said.

Costa is not a professional photographer. He has not studied technical photography.

"I am self taught and I follow the trial and error principle," Costa concluded with a smile.

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