Sandeep Somasekharan (or Sandy as friends call him) took his headlong plunge into photography with a three-megapixel Nikon point-and-shoot he purchased in 2003. The avid reader and occasional scribbler started enjoying travel and nature more as he spent more time photographing. Meeting Beej in 2008 helped him channel his creative energies in the form of essays and nature photographs that he started publishing on The Green Ogre.
Sandy loves to photograph birds and landscapes, and considers photography and writing as his meditation. Now based out of the US, Sandy juggles his time between parental duties, a full time engineering role, writing short fiction in Malayalam, and an occasional birding trip thrown in between. His debut novel in Malayalam hits the bookstalls in January 2025.
Sandy can be found at instagram as @footprintsonlight
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Read Sandy’s latest posts
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We Are What We Post: How Forums Influence Photography
Despite mastering the golden rules of photography, today’s photographers find themselves dictated to by the social media algorithm. How much integrity can a committed photographer sacrifice?
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Thattekkad Diary – Lessons In Birding, Guiding, and Tourist Privilege
A reflection on the economic and psychological pressures of informal ecotourism, which weigh heavily on the skilled birding guides of Thattekkad
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Cicada Apocalypse – A Survivor’s Account
For the first time since 1803, two broods of cicadas synchronised their emergence. The next time this takes place, who knows if the human race will be around?
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Costa Rica Diaries – Parting Gifts
Pura Vida. The phrase that translates roughly to “Pure Life” doesn’t do enough justice to all that Costa Rica offers the nature lover. It’s goodbye for now.
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Costa Rica Day 6 – Resplendent Quetzal: Part Bird, Part God and Full-Time Economy Driver
On a rainy Day 6 of Sandy’s birding tour in Costa Rica, he and his fellow birders seek out the Resplendent Quetzal, which the ancient Aztecs venerated as a feathered serpentine deity, Quetzalcoatl.
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Costa Rica Day 5 – Toucan Trees and Wild Dreams Coming True
Trees full of toucans, and a gobsmacking parade of macaws… the birding bonanza in Costa Rica seems to get better and better with a last-mile burst of lifer luck. And, yet, there’s more to come!
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Costa Rica Day 4 – Midnight weightlifting, flashing hummingbirds and misgendering in Spanish
On Day 4 in Costa Rica, Sandy learns his Spanish grammar the hard way, and indulges in a little light experiment with hummingbird photography
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Christmas at Boca Tapada – Costa Rica Birding Diary Day 3
Scarlet Macaws, Great Green Macaws, Shining Honeycreepers, King Vultures — a great big birding feast! What better way to spend Christmas in Boca Tapada, Costa Rica
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Muddy Boots in Guapiles | Costa Rica Birding Diary – Day 2
From white bats huddled like dumplings under banana leaves and shimmering hummingbirds and gaudy tree frogs, to majestic owls necking in the dark of the forest, it’s just another birding day in Guapiles, Costa Rica. Is crazy!
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Costa Rica Birding Diary | Day 1 – Cinchona and Sarapiqui
Exploring the bird life of Costa Rica, Sandy meets many that he assumes are either marital partners or relatives, but is mistaken!
