Be it a golden stream of sunlight that passes through the cracks in a door, rendered in monochrome, or a rolled-up stack of old newspapers that is oddly satisfying to look at — there are latent frames that often go unnoticed in our own homes.
The Chennai Photowalk, a city-based community of photography enthusiasts, seem to be missing its Sunday photowalks now more than ever. So, for the past two weeks, members have been getting together virtually in an effort to keep at their hobby, even during the time of lockdown. And one such Sunday event was to discover the hidden frames within the four walls of their homes, which gave birth to some of the ones described above.
It was on March 22 that the group decided to go digital with its events: “The participants were asked to click pictures and post them on our Facebook and Instagram handles, that pertain to each theme, within two hours. We changed the themes every two hours,” Naveen Kumar, one of the organisers at The Chennai Photowalk, says.
The first topic was ‘patterns at home’ followed by ‘fun with family’, ‘creativity in kitchen’ and ‘storytelling’. Each of the topics saw some interesting compositions — for instance, under the theme storytelling, one of the participants had set up a light, in front of which was a toy depicting a boy and a girl, holding hands. Through this simple frame, the photographer intended to recreate a moonlit night awash with love. “Like this, we had close to 150-plus registrations. By April, we’ll have a jury that will look at the pictures and announce the winner,” continues Naveen.
Yesterday, in its second run, The Chennai Photowalk, announced a virtual bus ride for its participants. And for this, it had chosen route number 1, that travels from Thiruvanmiyur to Ennore from 9 am to 7 pm. The virtual bus stopped at specific locations every hour: this was also when the participants sprung into action. They were expected to post images of that specific area, which were clicked in the past, within the one-hour window. The winners for each stop would be announced later.
“For our second activity, we wanted to do something around the city. Every time you look at an image clicked by you, you are transported back to that location and the memories you had there. This is precisely the objective behind this exercise,” says Naveen. The bus ride saw more than 80 passengers, and received 1,100 pictures in 10 hours, all shared digitally.
Naveen confirms that they plan to do such activities every Sunday. Amid the bout of creatives that have appeared online now, The Chennai Photowalk promises to find its own way to keep its community of photographers occupied, he concludes.
Check out its Facebook page: The Chennai Photowalk and Instagram handle: @thechennaiphotowalk for details.
