Thursday, Jan 15, 2004 GRUMPY LOOKING lion-tailed macaques, brilliant blue morpho butterflies, unusually coloured orchids, frogs, caterpillars and all kinds of creatures from the jungle jostle for space on the walls of Amethyst, where the Group for Nature Preservation and Education (GNAPE) is holding a four-day exhibition of photographs on the flora and fauna of the Anamalai Hills. GNAPE is involved in a project to document the various species of orchids in the Anamalais, and one section of the 63 photos on display is devoted entirely to these rare, pretty flowers. Anand Pakkurti, one of the photographers whose work is on display and a founder member of GNAPE, says it takes great patience to photograph plant life. "With animals, once you know their behavioural patterns, it's fairly easy to shoot them. But a slight breeze, your breath ... anything can make a stalk or flower move," says Anand, who has been photographing nature for the past 14 years. "And when you're heavily built like me, keeping still for ages trying to make a simple flower and stalk into a picture takes that much longer," he says laughing. While Anand's work focuses more on plant and animal life, Rajesh Mohan, the other photographer whose work is on display, focuses on the insects of the Western Ghats. While the rather virulent green grasshopper may not appeal to most, the graceful creepy crawly on the opposite wall makes one take a second look. But the composed-looking orchids, with their astonishing colouring against bright green leaves are among the best photos on display. "When I started this project, I thought it would be pretty easy to shoot flowers. But it's been a year and a half and I'm not even half-way through the documentation," says Anand, explaining that lighting on the forest floor is bad. Making life harder is the fact that orchids flower for a few days in a year and in the most inaccessible of places. The Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary is home to more than 200 species of orchids, of which Anand has captured only 75. The photographs are carefully captioned, providing simple but interesting details about the plants and creatures. The photographers carefully framed the pictures to capture various facets of the forest. A family of dholes (wild dogs) looks suspiciously at the camera. A campfire provides the only light for a frame of forest life. Butterfly-like yamflies with bright orange wings balance carefully on a green stalk. A silhouette of trees against a purple and blue twilight sky, titled "Dream and light," is arresting. "Chaos and order" captures palms against cottony clouds. These two are part of a project on habitats during the monsoons in the Western Ghats that GNAPE is working on. GNAPE was founded last year and its primary objective is to document and educate people about Indian bio-diversity, while working for conservation of nature. On Saturday at 6 p.m., Ravichalam, wildlife biologist will speak at Amethyst on "The Importance of Nature Conservation" with a slide show on the lions of the Gir Forest. The exhibition will be on display at Amethyst, Padmavathi Road, Jeypore Colony, Gopalapuram, till January 18, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.