City residents with a flair for photography have been putting Tiruchi and Srirangam in the frame through Instagram social networking service, and in the process, giving their viewers a glimpse of everyday life on the streets here.
“Only a few iconic images come up when Tiruchi is photographed – there’s the Rock Fort, the Cauvery bridge, and the temples; but there’s an entire world to be explored on the city’s streets, beyond these sites,” R. Selva Muthu Kumar, who runs the Instagram page ‘Streets.of.Trichy’(SOT), told The Hindu .
Mr. Selva, a 26-year-old qualified mechanical engineer, and avid photographer, says his preparation for the Indian Administrative Service exams inspired him to travel extensively within Tiruchi.
In March 2018, his pictures of the city eventually formed the basis of the SOT page. Quizzes, polls and factoids about Tiruchi have been added to keep readers engaged with the SOT page, which has 11,339 followers today.
Mr. Selva accepts contributions from other hobby photographers as well. At present there are around eight lensmen who send in their shots of the city regularly. “Our focus is on the culture of Tiruchi, and driven by viewer feedback. Young people are eager to identify new places to visit in the city and its suburbs,” said Mr. Selva.
Among the places SOT photographs have highlighted are farmland in K. Kallikudi, Rettamalai, Urundaimalai, Varaganeri’s street market, and so on.
The Instagram account has also helped Mr. Selva to coordinate relief efforts for the homeless and the feeding of street dogs during lockdown.
Aravind Srinivasan gave up a promising tech-based job in Bengaluru to return to his hometown Srirangam and now he has turned his passion for photography into a profession. Besides doing commercial photography, he also administers the ‘Streets of Srirangam’ page on Instagram, which he started in September, 2019.
A chemical engineering graduate, Mr. Aravind, spends his time photographing places that can help non-residents from Srirangam recollect their memories of the temple town. Photos, line drawings and short videos by others are also welcome on the page, which has over 900 followers.
