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Spotlight

Fleeting Moments Caught on Frame
IIUPE 2010

Shafkat Shafiur Rahman

There are people in this world who dream big and work for those dreams to come true. Among such people were Dr. Islam M. Faisal, Asad Chowdhury, Niazuddin Ahmed and Saud Al Faisal. These four visionaries set forth with a dream, a dream where they could indulge in their passion and present the world with a platform where young artists as themselves could stand tall and reach out to the world. Thus, in 1997, North South University Photography Club was born with a dream apparently impossible, yet unimaginably close at hand, because they had their faith to guide them.

NSUPC started off with a workshop with one of the most renowned photographers of this country and quickly moved on to diversified workshops, outings and in-house exhibitions. Gradually, the members grew in number and the club became like a family. The bond that the members share seemed to bring the dreams even closer. After several years of building the foundation of the club, the NSUPC family held hands and moved forward with a massive step. In 2000, the club organized a photography contest in the NSU campus, named Inter University Photography Exhibition or IUPE. The next exhibition took place in a renowned gallery and included most of the public universities. With an even bigger step forward, in 2003, NSUPC became international IUPE. Thus IIPUE became a platform for amateur photographers around the world. Every executive body of the club has an opportunity to present the world with one IIUPE and till now IIUPE has been made bigger and better than its predecessor by the ingenuity and limitless visions of the executive body and the hard work of its members,. They continue breaking boundaries and creating benchmarks for the ones to come.

NSUPC now hosts and participates in a multitude of activities. National and international fieldtrips take place on a regular basis. Every semester the club goes out on a one-day field trip around Dhaka district. NSUPC has also traveled to Sylhet, Bandarban, Rangamati. They have explored many places in India such as Panjab, Rajasthan and South India. The club also hosts Intra- NSU photography contests. NSUPC also organizes advanced workshops for the students, where they get to learn more about technical aspects of photography, composition etc.

International Inter-University Photography Exhibition

Sadia Afrin Arin and Antia Reza

Do you know what a camera is? It is a mirror with a memory. It is with this belief that NSUPC created a platform where photographers from different universities from all over the world brought their experiences together. North South University Photography Club (NSUPC) organised the “International Inter-University Photography Exhibition 2010” from 4 July to 10 July, 2010 at Bangladesh Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy and Drik Gallery. A few photography enthusiasts established NSUPC in 1997, and it has become one of the most prominent promoters of photography in Bangladesh. Since the club's inception, it has set one milestone after another; and its biggest accomplishment up until now is the International Inter- University Photography Exhibition (IIUPE).

Sometimes, a photo can express the thought which words cannot do and so for many people, photography becomes the way of expressing their thoughts. When I walked into the exhibition, I saw a quotation on a banner saying “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera”. It is true as through photography, many ordinary things can be represented, which people usually do not take notice of. For Wajda Akhter, President of NSUPC, “Photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place”. She thinks, “it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them”.

Jahangir Kabir Nanak, State Minister for LGRD and Cooperatives, was the Chief Guest of this exhibition and Azim Uddin Ahmed, Chairman of North South University Foundation, Dr. Hafiz G. A. Siddiqi, Vice Chancellor and Dr. S. A. M. Khairul Bashar, Pro Vice Chancellor, NSU, were present as Special Guests. In this exhibition, 170 photographers participated from 69 universities of the 20 following countries-- Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Canada, Egypt, Finland, Germany, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Srilanka, United Kingdom and U.S.A. As the second-largest photography event in the region, this event not only encourages and promotes photography, but also unites individuals wth passion for photography. Among these 170 photographers, 39 star photographers were selected. The entries were categorized under Colour and Back & White media, which was further classified into eight sub-categories such as Action, Architecture, Landscape, Life, Nature, Photo Story, Portrait and Still Life. A total of 39 prizes were given out. The members planned out every minuscule detail of this massive event, bearing in their hearts the goal they had set forth to achieve and their great love for photography. They spent days putting up posters in the streets, designing publications, sharing experiences in the club room, and making their dreams come true. Believing in the motto, “Once a member, always a member”, NSUPC is a club where the alumni keep inspiring the new members. NSUPC family proves that stars are within each of us and that the sky is not the limit, they set the limit of the sky!

Shahriar Iqbal Raj, Faculty Advisor for NSUPC, conceived a theme to identify the young stars among photographers. To portray the theme they maintained the symbol of a star.

A jury panel consisting of renowned photographers of Bangladesh judged the photographs. It proved to be a tough job for the jury to pick out the winning entries.

There are photographers who choose photography as their career, and then there are others, the non-professionals, whose work cannot be overlooked either. For professional photographers, the scopes are wide and many of them are dominating the world of photography. But there is little opportunity for the non-professionals to reveal their creativity. Self-satisfaction is the drive that leads this community toward the thirst of creation. This platform has been created for those who can bring out their creativity, their ideas and their passion within a frame. A photo story aptly titled 'Blood Coal' is a touching piece of work by Easel Mortuza. It won the 1st prize among 15 other photo stories. In the most gripping series of images, the photographer captures life in a small mining village in Dinajpur. The photographs show how an entire village falls victim to the insurmountable grips of industrialization.