A school dropout from a remote Kadavakuduru village, near Chinnaganjam in Prakasam district, Ravi Seetaramaiah has turned challenges into opportunities and matured into a seasoned photographer to win the Associate ICS (AICS) award of the US-based International Society- Image Colleague Society.
The hanging plan for AICS award comprised 12 fascinating pictures, including the ones on the just-concluded Krishna Pushkaram in Vijayawada. The other eye-catching pictures in the plan includes the famous boat race in Alleppey in Kerala and the famous Jallikattu (bull taming event) at Alanganallur, near Madurai in Tamil Nadu to bring to limelight the South India's unique Dravidian culture.
Turning point
Seetaramaiah had lost hopes when he could not clear X std. in 1995. But the course on photography offered by the Rural Development and Self Employment Training Institute at Vetapalem came as a boon for him, recalls the 40-year-old photographer going down the memory lane.
“I run a photo studio at a remote Sopirala village and specialise in making wedding albums for a living,” adds the photographer, whose skills were honed by, among others, noted photographers K. Sudhakar Reddy from Guntur and Tamma Srinivasa Reddy from Vijayawada.
He has a special interest in taking eye-catching pictures on different themes, including the life style of Chenchu tribals from the Nallamalla forests, fishermen from Voderavu and salt workers from Chinnaganjam in Prakasam district, he told The Hindu here.
“My ultimate goal is to win the Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society, one of the world's oldest photographic societies in London,” says the lensman, who does not want to rest on past laurels.
