Lensman Steve Winter on his iconic shots, big cats and love for Indian food

Winter talks to Ruchika Chitravanshi about how he composes shots in his mind before actually shooting them and why he took up an Indian cooking course

It was the twenty-fourth day of sitting atop this elephant in Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh tiger reserve for Steve Winter, one of the world’s most celebrated wildlife photographers and a big cat specialist. Balancing his camera with its 600-mm lens and a tripod on a shifty elephant which was getting uneasy under the summer sun, Winter was worried yet calm, when suddenly he saw what he had been waiting for all these days. The tiger cubs had just emerged from the trees with their mother to play. Radio silence. Winter had already composed the prized shot in his mind and managed to capture seven frames, hoping at least one of them would be sharp.

Sitting comfortably in the plush Indian Accent restaurant in New Delhi’s Lodhi Road, we admire the final photograph taken around five years ago that made it to the cover of the recently launched National Geographic’s coffee table book, Tigers Forever. Winter asks for a shot of double espresso to kick start our lunch while narrating his many adventures.

Even as a nine-year-old Indiana boy, all Winter wanted was to get out of his hometown and travel the world. Although photography came naturally to him — Winter’s father was an amateur photographer — he joined university to study urban renewal... to “become something”. Soon he realised this was not his calling. “I quit and decided to travel the world and came to India... I first came here in 1979...”

Having backpacked from Kolkata and Annapurna in Nepal, all the way down to southern India and then to Lucknow, that too on a third class railway ticket and buses back in his “hippie days”, Winter is no stranger to India or Indian food.

Soon, we are served two baby naans stuffed with Danish blue cheese and topped with some champagne honey; the waiter cautions us to wait for it to cool down, almost sensing our excitement to try the dainty mouthfuls.  

Winter is narrating his early adventures in the forest of Sierra de las Minas in Guatemala where he had built a shack to shoot the vibrant blue-green bird Quetzal while digging into the sumptuous bites of our first course that takes us through the streets of India with bite-size portions of Maharashtrian dabeli, puri aloo and Winter’s favourite chilli crab. 

Out in the wild, animals mark their territories, the photo journalist says. “So did I... mainly to protect my space from wild boars.” 

One night, when he was reading a book, Winter heard a creeping noise on the stairs and a brushing sound on the floor. “And then, I heard scratching under the door... I was so scared. I whacked my machete on the side of the bed and whistled and I heard the thing running down away.” 

Next morning, the locals told him it might have been the black panther. That was Winter’s first encounter with a big cat. 

Our next item on the menu, pulled pork phulka tacos and the jackfruit version of the same, is served just in time. Each preparation takes time and the food arrives slowly, but Winter is a patient man. 

I would have thought 24 days in Bandhavgarh was a long wait, but then he tells me how he waited 15 months for one of his most well-known and iconic shots — a mountain tiger strolling in Griffith Park at the edge of Sunset Boulevard with the Hollywood Sign in the background. This was again a shot he had already framed in his mind. “I knew I needed incredible picture to illustrate urban wildlife.” 

When he shared the idea with a scientist friend who monitored the wildlife in the area, he looked at him like he was crazy, Winter said. However, as soon as the big cat was spotted, Winter had to figure out ways to install remote cameras he learned to use while shooting the snow leopards in Ladakh. 

As a result of the picture, the largest wildlife overpass is being built in the area funded by American actor Leonardo DiCaprio and his foundation. We pore over some more of his work on his latest iPhone. “It has a great camera,” he says.

The anar and churan kulfi is before us, to cleanse the palate for what is coming up next; roast chicken and smoked papad curry. It comes with wine pairing recommendations of Allegrini Valpolicella Classic or Rondinella among others. The idea is tempting but Winter gives it a pass — he has a talk scheduled later for budding photographers and journalists.

Winter loves Indian food. “My first masala dosa and sambhar with chutney in the south on a banana leaf just blew my mind. You know I'm the kid from Indiana. It was amazing.” He even took up an Indian cooking course afterwards. 

I am curious if Winter has ever had a close shave with a big cat since I had read how he was attacked by a rhinoceros once. “Twenty-eight years and I have never been attacked and I am super close to them,” the 63-year-old lensman says.

“Predators have no desire to hurt us because we have not been a part of their image search for millennia!” He clarifies: “There is no way that these cats want to eat us. We stink. We use deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, perfumes.”

The question leads to a pertinent discussion on ecology and dangers it faces as wildlife gets displaced. “Every other breath you take comes from forests, and big cats live in the forest. If we can save big cats, we can help save ourselves because we need these areas,” said Winter.

At this point, almost like an interlude our next course arrives — a delicious serving of grilled sea bass with sweet potato and goan mango curry. This is accompanied by a smoked eggplant raita, chilli hoisin duck kulcha and a pearl millet roti with a topping of fresh churned butter. The portion size, in keeping with the concept of tasting menu, is just right. 

As we get back to our discussion, Winter shows me the latest edition of National Geographic magazine which features The Tigers Next Door, a 30-page story of over 5,200 words he did put together with his wife, also a photographer and a writer. It is a story of tigers in roadside zoos, many of them pets, several abused, in South Carolina. Witnessing the wild beasts tamed in such a way looked wrong in the pictures. Winter calls them the worst tiger breeders in the world. 

In India, Winter has also engaged with the ministry of environment during Jairam Ramesh’s tenure to request a change in the laws for the way tigers are counted here. “Tigers in India only existed legally if they were in a tiger reserve, which was a bureaucratic mindset... because tigers exist wherever they want to exist.” 

His next stop is the Gir forests in Gujarat.

Wherever the tiger trail took him, Winter managed to create some awareness about big cats and prove that tigers are not as violent as they are made out to be. “Why do a story? Why spend months away from your family? If you’re just going to watch this species disappear?” 

His love for tigers, the biggest of the big cats, is more than evident by now. We are nearing the end of this sumptuous meal with desserts ready to be served — a chilli peanut ice cream cornet, jalebi with Haji Ali inspired custard apple cream and coconut burfi with dark chocolate mousse. Reluctantly, Winter has to leave all the sweet delights behind, as the time for his talk for photographers is too close and his ride has already arrived.  

As I walk him out, Winter gives me his visiting card. It has the famous Hollywood shot of the mountain tiger on the back. Why am I not surprised?