We wanted to find out more about the winner of the first Canon Photochains hero-chain challenge, Siva, and his inspiration behind his winning image, ‘birdseye’. You'll see below that we've asked him a couple of questions about his experience with Canon’s Photochains challenge.

Hopefully these will inspire you to get out there and try something new with your photography!

Q: What inspired this shot?
Siva: This shot was taken with my new Canon EOS 450D. It was evening and fairly dark in the living room. The budgie (Chi Chi) was sitting on his master’s finger; talking and playing with his moustache, but Chi Chi always had an eye on the camera I was holding as he wasn’t quite sure about it. I didn’t want to scare him by using a flash, so I shot with a high ISO and I couldn’t believe the quality of this shot.
 
Q: Why did you choose 'birdseye' as the link?
Siva: One of the great things about the Photochains competition is how it inspires photographers to get involved and meet a particular challenge. Bird photography is fun and exciting - however it requires lots of patience. One of the basic rules is to make sure the bird’s eyes are in focus. I hope my image challenges and encourages photographers to go out and capture some ‘birdseye’s’ of their own.

Q: How would you describe yourself as a photographer?
Siva: My passion for photography goes back a long time. I’m not a professionally trained photographer by any means; however I was told I have some natural talent. Sometimes I take hours and hours just to get that one perfect shot. I never feel tired or bored with cameras, because photography makes me feel relaxed.
I’m so satisfied and comfortable with my new Canon EOS 450D. I’ve wanted to own a DSLR camera for a long time, so after a lot of research and saving my dream finally came true about two months ago. I’m now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in design, and also planning on completing a professional photographic course after finishing my uni degree – that way I’ll be able to do what I love for work!

Q: Anything else you want to share with the EOS community?
Siva: Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me and submitted images to this competition. A big thanks to Canon for having this fantastic competition - Photochains is really fun, creative and a great encouragement for EOS users. I can’t believe that I have won this EOS 500D. When I first saw the EOS 500D released a few weeks after I bought my 450D, I thought, maybe I could have waited a bit more, but still I’m so happy and satisfied with my lovely 450D!!!

I will keep supporting the Canon EOS community through submitting and voting, and I encourage you all to do the same.