The horse rears throwing its rider out of the saddle. He is in mid-air, arms flailing and his chequered shirt puffs up like a parachute. This picture by Joseph Tam from Australia is frozen in time. It is one of the 466 entries to the International Digital Photography Salon chosen to be on display at the Lalit Kala Akademi and organised by the Photography Society of Madras (PSM).
The exhibition was inaugurated by composer and photographer Ilaiyaraaja. The entries were classified under the topics Open, Travel, Nature, Macro and Members and each had winners in the Gold, Silver and Bronze categories. Following the launch of the exhibition, there will be workshops on subjects such as conceptual portraiture, landscape and wildlife photography among others.
In the Open category, ‘Into The Dawn’ by Tam from Australia, won gold. It is a picture of a fishing community at dawn. As the sun emerges from its sleep, bathing the sky a bright orange, there are boats already in the waters, their rectangular sails open and the men in these boats preparing for the day. Then there is Yung Niem’s ‘Aurora appearing over YK’, a stunning picture of triangular tents under a wavy green sky. The earth is covered in snow and there are no lights except the lamps inside the tents.
Chih Huang’s ‘A scene over the bridge’ shows a placid lake with a wooden bridge over it. Mist rises up from the waters. A family is seen crossing the bridge followed by men carrying baskets with a buffalo in tow.
Under Travel, ‘Visitors at Taj’ by Santosh Rajgarhia bags the gold. The heavy morning mist cloaks the monument such that the whole scene turns grey. A solitary boat floats on the Yamuna and a woman dressed in black stands scouting for something. ‘Team spirit’ by Henry Ho from Hong Kong is self-explanatory. A group of Buddhist monks carry a rope-like object wrapped in red down a mountain. The man in front is holding an umbrella and another stands on the edge of the mountain trail, presumably giving directions. Shibu Matthew from India won the bronze for a picture of Dubai at night — the snazzy lights, the traffic and the tall buildings disappearing into a distance. Macro brings into focus the little things of life. Andy Lim Sin Kun of Malaysia won the gold for a picture of a Robber Fly. It stands on a leaf holding a smaller insect. Another interesting perspective is ‘Fly eyes’ by Yeow Lim from Malaysia. It brings forth, with incredible clarity, the gauzy eyes of a fly. The insect has water droplets on its eyes and body. ‘Three flies perched on a lily bud’ by Shu Cheuk from the U.S., shows exactly that.
In the Members category, the pictures are varied, with focus on wildlife and birds. Samyak Kaninde’s picture of a Bar-headed Goose (Anser Indicus) pair, with one flapping about like it’s about to take flight, and ‘Wild Tusker in Bandipur’ by Sekar Srikanth are a couple of entries. The show is on till May 4 at Lalit Kala Akademi between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. For details on workshops and lectures, visit >www.photomadras.org .
