A first-of-its-kind Virtual Photo Summit will bring together 25 photographers and storytellers, from April 24 to 26. The event will feature recorded and live interviews, audio podcasts, artist talks, and photo exhibitions. Virtual Photo Summit is organised by Create4Cause (C4C), founded by photographer Saurabh Narang, to raise funds for daily wage earners affected due to COVID-19 lockdown.
The photo summit is a ticketed event with the funds being managed by Give India (giveindia.org). The donation tickets are priced at ₹1000 each and those signing up can also contribute larger sums.
Saurabh is also a speaker for UNESCO’s International Day of Light 2020 event coming up on May 16. Before the COVID-19 pandemic surfaced in India, Saurabh had planned to bring together two or three other photographers and create a video discussing photography, which would be available for free viewing on an online platform.
ADVERTISEMENT
However, when the pandemic broke out across the country and the lockdown followed, Saurabh tweaked the idea and thought of a larger collaborative event that could raise funds for daily wage earners. And the partnership with Give India came about.
He and the C4C team reached out to reputed names in photography and filmmaking, both in India and abroad. “We are happy that 25 storytellers are on board,” says Saurabh, who is now based in Sikkim, a State that’s still thankfully free of COVID-19.
The participating delegates include Abhinav Chandel whose photographs and narratives have an immense following on Instagram, National Geographic photographer and Nikon ambassador Ami Vitale, Esther Horvath, Federico Rios, Jody MacDonald, Nirvair Rai, award-winning photojournalist and Emmy nominated filmmaker John Stanmeyer, documentary photographer Siddharth Behl, filmmaker Shakun Batra, travel photographer and author Shivya Nath, and Hyderabad-based photographer Swarat Ghosh, among others.
ADVERTISEMENT
“So far, 65 people have registered for the event and we have been able to raise over ₹80,000,” says Saurabh. The Virtual Photo Summit has an ambitious target of ₹10 lakh: “If we manage to raise more than ₹5 lakh, we will consider issuing a grant to freelance photographers who are out of work due to the current situation. The selection will be done after an assessment of income level and quality of work. If we are unable to find a suitable partner to execute such a grant, all the funds will go towards helping daily wage earners,” explains Saurabh.
Those who register will be sent a private link to view the event on Facebook. Look up Virtual Photo Summit’s Facebook and Instagram pages for further details.