An online group called Votrasi Imaging and the Lions Club Mangalore conducted a photography workshop for children up to Std X and a ‘No Rule' cartooning workshop for everyone over the age of 15 in Mangalore's Tagore Park recently. The free event aimed at a fun way of learning photography and cartooning.
Complete fun
The photography workshop, conducted by Aadarsh Ayyapana, a student of Engineering, had eight participants. The cartooning workshop, conducted by Nikhil Pai, a College student, had 10 participants.
The event was organised by Votrasi Imaging and sponsored by Lions Club Mangalore. Ananya Kini, a Std II student in St. Mary's School, said she attended the photography workshop and took “lots of photos” with a camera she had borrowed from her uncle. She said, “I like taking photos of flowers. I took photos of red roses. The workshop was very nice.”
Shravan, of Std VII, St. Aloysius, said the workshop was totally fun. “There were many children, some smaller than me. They taught us about different photo “modes” and then there was a photo competition,” he said. The workshop started at 8 a.m. and ended by 1 p.m. “There was a wide range of subjects. We could take photos of flowers, leaves and nature,” he added. His favourite subject is taking photos of flowers, especially using the “macro” feature in the camera that allows taking close shots of tiny objects.
Clicking away
There was a lot of good humoured banter during the workshop. Sharavan said they joked with Adarsh, who was conducting the workshop. “He is just like a friend as we have been with him for several ‘photo walks' with other Votrasi members, he said.
The ‘photo walks' are visits to the fish market, vegetable market and to Pilikula Nisarga Dhama, (a nature park near Mangalore), during which everyone takes photos of the place.
Akshay Kudva, who is in Std X, Cambridge School, said that he took photos of butterflies. “We were told to take photographs of anything in the park. So we took photographs of flowers, and some stone carvings. There was also a puppy there, so we took pictures of that too. It was really fun,” he said. Akshay said that they were told what photography is, different “modes” in photography and the difference between each of them. There were many of us and I can't wait for the next photo workshop to be held in the city,” he said.
“Votrasi” is an online group on Facebook. It has 2,050 members, of which at least 400 to 500 visit the page and leave a comment. “Votrasi” is a word used across Kannada, Tulu, Konkani, meaning “together, in large numbers”. The group promotes artistic and creative initiatives.
It will turn a year old in May and has organised a photography contest almost every week.
Winners of the contest appear in the online “Votrasi Hall of Fame”, said one of the three cofounders of the group. Its Facebook page is www.facebook.com/votrasi
