Indian Forest Service officer Parveen Kaswan is somewhat media shy and tries to maintain distance from media persons as far as possible.
But he stays in constant touch with his followers on social media platforms, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook, where he regularly posts captivating photographs on and interesting information about wildlife. And, most of these clicks are his own, captured in the wild, on and off duty.
On World Photography Day, Indian Masterminds spoke with Mr. Kaswan to know more about his passion for photography.
SOCIAL MEDIA SAVVY
Mr. Kaswan is quite popular on social media with 43.5 k followers on Instagram, 459.6 k followers on X and 1 lakh followers on Facebook. This popularity mostly stems from his wildlife related clicks and updates.
His followers look forward to his posts from his forest postings, and he does not disappoint them by regularly uploading beautiful captures along with interesting information about some wild animal or bird. He has a special fascination for birds going by his clicks as they take up most of the space in his personal photograph collection.
WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER
The IFS officer is a qualified aerospace engineer, but his love for nature and wildlife made him switch over to a different field altogether. So, instead of counting stars, he now counts tigers and elephants. And instead of capturing celestial bodies, he now captures wildlife through his lens.
His ‘space’ is the forest where he lives and discharges his official duties diligently. Being so close to nature inspired him to try his hands at capturing nature’s mesmerizing beauty for eternity through his lens. And he started taking his camera along with him on his field trips. He explained, “I love to document things while I am moving in field. They keep me informed as well as help in creating a good information bank.”
Mr. Kaswan joined Indian Forest Service in 2016. “I took up photography after joining IFS. I have a Canon camera. So, within all these years, I have captured a good number of photographs,” he said.
He has archived his favourite clicks on his Instagram account and some of them often find their way into X (Twitter) as well. “I do only wildlife photography since I work in that field,” he said.
ABOUT THE OFFICER
IFS officer Parveen Kaswan, who is presently posted in a tiger reserve, did his Masters in Forestry from Forest Research Institute in Dehradun. He also did Masters in Engineering Design from IISc Bangalore and has a degree in aeronautical/space engineering from Amity University.
He comes from a humble family of Mirzawali Mer village in the Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan.
He worked for sometime in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s divisions in Koraput in Odisha and Lucknow. During his stint in Koraput, he got to work on the engine of a Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter aircraft. This is one of the significant memories of his life which now lies buried under the pile of memories made during his time in the forests of which some are etched lovingly in his personal photograph collection.
