The relentless summer of Delhi fails to dissuade lovers of art from venturing out to catch up with the latest from the world of brush and lens. Not surprisingly, the Nicefoto exhibition, organised by Delhi Photography Club (DPC), attracted enthusiastic response from the locals.
The exhibition celebrating amateur photography concluded this Friday. DPC promises to provide a platform to amateur photographers who take “nice” photos. DPC is an interesting mix of businessmen, diplomats, doctors, lawyers, homemakers, students and children. It was started by Anil Kumar, an IIM alumnus and a photography lover. The motive behind this is to create a platform for amateur photographers to exchange, ideate and learn. The club reaches out to people through its courses, heritage photo walks and conversations on social networking sites. The exhibition was inaugurated by Nitin Rai, a seasoned photographer and a mentor to several amateur photographers. “It is a platform for photography enthusiasts who do photography just for pleasure,” said Shwetasingh Shekhawat, managing operations of DPC and a photography enthusiast.
The exhibition featured images taken by 150 photography enthusiasts aged between seven and 58 across the world — Romania, the Netherlands, Iran, Italy, England, France, Germany, Croatia, Spain, Malaysia and Singapore. The youngest of all was a seven-year-old girl named Avani . Photography is a way to express oneself without the language of words, added Shweta. Her photograph, titled ‘Beauty of Streets’, is an image of a rag-picker girl, very calm, with deep black eyes and black hair. “I clicked this image on a winter evening. It is the first time that I have displayed my work in any exhibition,” she said.
“I love to play with my Nikon and capture moments. I will definitely be a professional in the coming years and want to reach great heights like Prabuddha Dasgupta,”saidSwati Bhatnagaran, amateur photographer in the carnival.
Voicing a different thought was Rahul, another artist at the show. He said, “I don’t want to make photography my profession, because somewhere I have to bury my own ideas. It’s my hobby. I like to be realistic, not conceptual.” About 3,000 images came from all over the world, out of which the ones to be exhibited were selected. “This time we are keeping photographs for sale also,” said Shweta. The smallest image, measuring 8x12 inches, costs Rs. 3,000, while the largest (18x24 inches), is worth of Rs. 8,000. “Through my stint in photography, I saw meaning. It became a better method for me to show what was there. Everything I shot was real,” claimed an artist showing here.
