Hyderabad: On the occasion of World Photography Day, Indian Photo Festival (IPF) threw open doors to a thought- provoking photo exhibition that was inaugurated today by Philanthropist and Entrepreneur Ms. Pinky Reddy at the State Gallery of Art. All the exhibited photographs are nominations for the IPF Photographer of the Year Award that will be held in association with HMDA, CREDAI Hyderabad, State Gallery of Art, Srishti, and Blackforest on 17th September 2022. The inauguration was also attended by Mr. Santosh BM IAS, MD HGCL, CREDAI Hyderabad President, Mr. P. Rama Krishna Rao and Dr. K. Lakshmi, IAS, Director, State Gallery of Art among others.
Exhibited photographs are final nominations from eight categories – Photojournalism, Documentary, Travel and Nature, Wildlife, Street, Portrait, Wedding and Mobiles; and will be exhibited at the State Art Gallery till 19th September 2022. These photographs showcase breath- taking magnificent landscapes captured in soft hues. While, street photographs are intriguing, portrait and press categories highlight compelling stories of individuals and human perseverance when nature wreaks havoc. Interesting juxtaposes of wild and ‘not- so- wild’ side of the wild life and beautiful captures of the fun moments of otherwise emotional weddings make this exhibit very distinctive.
“With IPF Photographer of The Year Awards, we aim to take the idea of photography to a larger audience. The fact that we received many entries from non– professional photographers in our first edition itself confirms that the initiative is headed in the right direction. At IPF, we believe that these are small yet significant steps towards building a larger community of photographers in India. And these events serve as a good platform for everyone to come under one roof, share their ideas and experiences and learn what’s happening around the world. Photographers from 85 countries have submitted their works for the awards and the selections were made by renowned jury of photographers and editors from National Geographic. In India, we did not have such exposure in our early photography days; however, we sincerely hope that today, photographers make use of this opportunity and take away rich experiences from our initiatives”, said Mr. Aquin Mathews, Founder and Director, Indian Photo Festival.
Known for her philanthropic work for children’s education, health and welfare of the elderly, and her love for art, Ms. Pinky Reddy is known for her relentless work towards reviving dying art- forms. Inaugurating IPOY photo exhibition, she said, “It is moving to see such an overwhelming pool of talent in photography on a day when we celebrate World Photography Day. People use various forms of art to bring awareness about sensitive social issues but using photography to tell compelling stories with an idea to bring about change in the society is noble. I would like to congratulate Indian Photo Festival for creating a wonderful space and medium to inspire people and I hope more people benefit from it.”
“It is an exciting moment for Hyderabad as we inaugurate the 1St edition of IPF Photographer of The Year Award Exhibition today. This takes us closer to making brand Hyderabad recall much stronger on a global level. The world is getting to know our heritage and rich culture through various platforms and all I can say is, this is just the beginning,” said Mr. BM Santhosh, IAS, MD, Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited(HGCL) and Secretary the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority(HMDA).
The nominees were selected via a blind selection process where none of the photographer names were revealed to the jury making the selection absolutely unbiased and fair. The jury included some of the most sought-after photographers and editors from National Geographic like- Mr. Raghu Rai, widely known as the father of Indian Photography, Dominique Hildebrand, a photo editor at National Geographic, California based leading nature and landscape photographer Sapna Reddy, National Geographic Photographer Prasenjit Yadav, leading Street Photographer and Leica Ambassador Vineet Vohra, Potrait and Fashion Photographer Manoj Jadhav, master artist and nationally acclaimed photographer Photriya Venky and leading photo blogger Gopal MS.
“State Art Gallery has been hosting the Indian Photo Festival since its inception and we have seen the festival grow year on year, not just in number but in quality and magnitude. We are glad to be part of this initiative and will be up to support more such initiatives to help build photographer community in Hyderabad and India”, said Dr. K. Lakshmi, IAS, Director, State Gallery of Art.
