Beauty of tigers is shown by wildlife photographer (From Gazette Series)

Beauty of tigers is shown by wildlife photographer

8:20am Wednesday 28th November 2007 in News By Claire Marshall

IN A STUDY spanning a decade, wildlife photographer Iain Green has documented the lives of a family of tigers in India.

The majestic beauty of the endangered animal is seen in 200 stunning photographs in the book Tiger Jungle.

Iain, 37, from Kingswood, spent 10 years going back and forth to India to document the family of tigers.

He says he started the project purely by chance when photographing birds in India.

"When I went to the national park in Bandhavgarh I found a group of one-year-old brothers and I began to photograph them," said Iain.

"I had such a successful first trip I went back the next year when they had grown up and I continued going back. It is very addictive."

The father-of-two said he had a passion for wildlife at a very young age but it wasn't until later in life when he took a night class in photography that he realised he could have a career documenting wildlife in pictures.

The part of India he studied was the area where Kipling set The Jungle Book and was owned by an Indian Maharaja as an area for hunting.

In the 1960s it was turned into a national park where tigers can now breed in safety.

A new census recently revealed that there are only around 1,300 tigers left in India and part of Iain's book aims to highlight conservation issues.

"Bandhavgarh is probably the best place to see tigers in the world," said Iain.

"The closest I ever got to a tiger was probably around three metres away although a comfortable distance is four or five metres.

"I have had a few moments with female tigers because they are very unpredictable, especially if they have young around them. They move so fast and with such ferocity it can be quite unnerving.

"I think people like tigers because they are so majestic and magnificent. They have such grandeur and strength.

"Their beauty is their downfall because they are hunted for their skins."

Iain plans to concentrate on wildlife a little closer to home for his next project.

"I am interested in local and urban wildlife. This is an excellent area for animals, there are Kingfishers and Dippers, which are not well known but are birds that fish under water."

He has recently given a talk at Kingswood Primary School, which his daughter attends, and hopes to give talks around the area next year.

Iain will be displaying his photographs at a craft fair on Saturday in the Under-the-Edge arts centre in The Chipping Hall, Wotton-under-Edge, from 2.30pm to 5.30pm.

The book is available in the Wotton bookshop and major bookshops around the country.