H V Praveen Kumar, an inspector in the customs and Central Excise Department and a wildlife photographer, has the honour of being the eighth Indian and sixth from Karnataka to be conferred with the coveted honour of Master, Federation International de la Art Photographique (MFIAP) in recognition of his highest grade of creations of photograhic art.
Federation Internationale de la Art Photographique (FIP), is an international organisation based in Luxemburg and is sponsored by UNESCO. The recognition has been given to Praveen Kumar for his set of pictures titled, “Indian birds — the winged beauties.” So far only 115 people in the world have been conferred with this prestigious distinction.
Earlier Praveen has also been conferred with Associate of Royal Photographic Society (ARPS), Associate of Image Colleague Society (AICS) given by various international bodies of photography. He is one of the top exhibitors of India, with over 1,500 pictures being exhibited in India and abroad. He has also bagged 150 awards and certificates at national and international contests.
He was the winner of the wildlife photographer of the year award instituted by ABN Amro Bank-Sanctuary Magazine for the year 2002 for his picture, “The Royal flight.”
This picture has fetched nearly 25 awards and has been displayed at the head office of World Wildlife Fund (WWF), New Delhi. He became a winner again in 2003 for his picture “Langur on spotted deer” in the ABN Amro Bank-Sanctuary Magazine contest.
Praveen took up photography only in 1995. His earlier reputation has been that of a television actor.
He started his career in television serials through “Ree Maribedi”, a popular comedy serial directed by HMK Murthy. Bedavada magu, Prema Ganga, Aparadhi yaru, Mooru gantu, Naanu neenu jodi, Banna are few of the other serials in which Praveen has acted. He has acted in more than 50 serials in Kannada and Telugu.