Well-known wildlife photographer, geek, security expert and all-round nice-guy, Kalyan Varma, will give the closing keynote at FOSS.IN/2008 in the evening of the 29th of November.

Kalyan Varma is one of India’s leading wildlife photographers. Although he started his career in the IT and software sector, his passion for nature and wildlife made him leave this behind so that he could devote his time and effort to nature photography and film-making. A winner of the Sanctuary Asia Wildlife Photographer of the Year award, Kalyan’s photos, blogs, workshops, and field efforts have made him a well-known name in wildlife conservation circles. His work has appeared in many international magazines like National Geographic, BBC Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation, Sanctuary Asia, etc.

But in the technology circles, he is known for his passion for Free and Open Source Software and his active promotion of all things FOSS. His famed FOSS.IN calendars grace the desks of thousands of people across the world.

Just back from the UK, where he held a prestigious exhibition of his photographs, and right out of the Rann of Kutch, and the Gir National park, from where he enthralled his fans with live reports on Twitter, Kalyan will explain how his FOSS roots help him in his larger quest of ensuring that things that are meant to be shared will continue to be around – whether that applies to FOSS, or nature.