They say one needs to work hard in order to reach great heights. But for Thrissur native Vishnu, a photographer by profession, this saying turned out to be literally true. Vishnu climbed a tree in pursuit of the perfect frame and a video of his acrobatic skills made him famous overnight.
Not only did the 23-year-old climb up a tree, but he also balanced himself upside down from a branch, so that he got the frame he envisioned. The video shows Vishnu, after clicking the photograph from the tree, asking the groom to hold his camera, while he effortlessly jumps down and walks away like a boss!
Today, Vishnu is called the ‘vavval’ (meaning bat in Malayalam) photographer, named after his posture atop the tree.
Working with a wedding photographers’ group called Whiteramp, Vishnu was one of the team members who covered the wedding of Shiaz and Navya on April 15.
Thanks to a short video of his unique photography technique, Vishnu is now making waves on social media! While his action has left people laughing, they also lauded him for his dedication.
When TNM caught up with Vishnu, the young man did not try to hide his excitement over his new-found popularity.
Narrating the story behind the viral video, Vishnu said: “After the wedding, we were shooting outside the groom’s house. When I saw a tree in front of his house, I suddenly had an idea of taking a photograph from a top angle. When I told the couple, they said okay and so I climbed the tree and attempted the click.”
The climb and the jump was a cakewalk for Vishnu, who said, in his childhood, he had climbed up many, many trees several times!
Vishnu revealed that this was technically not the first time he had climbed a tree to take pictures of married couples.
“I have climbed trees some 4 or 5 times before and taken photographs from above. But for this one, I wanted to see how it would look if I am upside down. Thankfully, it turned out well,” Vishnu said.
While the photograph turned out well, what Vishnu didn’t anticipate was the sudden popularity. One of the videographers in his team shot a video of his ‘stunt’ and shared it on a photographers’ group. And the rest, as they say, is history!