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Spotlight

Clicking untold stories…Photography Exhibition-BP

Md. Zabir Hasan

How do you capture a person's soul in less than one sixtieth of a second? How do you envision an emotion in a 24mm by 36mm frame when it takes an entire lifetime to realise you hardly know them at all?

But it is not only about capturing colours or a single moment within the two dimensions. What you have caught on camera is captured forever; the image stands as a testament to every emotion and experience long after it has been captured. But it is weird that one can spend years or even an entire lifetime, trying to capture moments, which added together, don't even amount to a couple of hours. Simultaneously, a moment captured in frame might take a lifetime to decode. And that is why they say, “A photograph can speak more than a thousand words”.

Photography is the recent hype in our country. It is definitely a very positive sign. More and more photographers are introduced everyday with the blessings of the brand new series of Camera. Photography seems to be a very accessible hobby for the younger generation. But the response from the art critics and the maestros of photography about this transition are quite different. How many good photographs are taken and how many of these photographs are getting due recognition?

To respond to this cause, Bangladeshi Photographers, an online photographic community, organized “Bangladeshi Photographers Challenge”, an online photography competition and exhibition. “Bangladeshi Photographers” or, in short, BP was formed four years back by a group of photo enthusiasts with this motto “We share, We care, We inspire”. Starting in 2006, with a view to fuel and share the passion of photography, BP was established as an online community in the website www.flickr.com. It still continues to inspire the upcoming talents in photography. The group consists of more than 2000 members actively practicing photography and helping newcomers through their journey in learning this art. BP regularly organizes photo outings, workshops, exhibitions and knowledge sharing sessions.

This four-year history of “Bangladeshi photographers” has been a versatile one. With this competition and exhibition, BP took a completely new initiative where the young minds and masters will merge together to create a canopy of creativity. It will uphold thoughts of photographers, both amateur and experienced. It was the first of its kind in Bangladesh-- a photography competition in a grand scale. The winning prizes were two Digital SLR cameras.

Participants were allowed to submit their ONE best photograph in the group thread of Bangladeshi photographers in www.flickr.com. July 10 was the last date of submission. Over 275 entries were submitted in three age groups, namely Category A (10 to 18 years old), Category B (19 to 26 years old) and Category C (27 years and above). From these submissions 50 photographs were primarily selected for the exhibition that followed by a judging panel consisting of prominent photographers, Mr. GMB Akash, MR Hasan, Mohammad Moniruzzaman awarding the best photograph from category A and B with a DSLR camera or any camera equipment within the allotted budget. To make the whole thing tangier, BP decided to announce the name of the winners in the inauguration ceremony of our exhibition.

Before the exhibition a unique campaign was launched to make the event an eye candy for the people of Dhaka. The group members had done and extensive campaign through social networking website through facebook, flickr and twitter. For three nights poster walk was arranged by the members of BP prior to the exhibition. You san still see posters on the walls of Dhaka University area and Dhamondi. A radio session called “Friendship Day Special Campus Campus” was also arranged with collaboration of “ABC Radio” and the students of “Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College” to promote the exhibition. Media partners include Banglavision, Star Campus and ABC Radio.

The competition was followed by five day long photography exhibition in Gallery 3 and Gallery 4 of “Dhaka Art Center” and inaugurated on 4th August 2010 at 4:30pm by renowned photographer, Mr. David Barikder. As Special guests Kawser Mahmud and as representative of Dhaka Art Center Jamal Ahmed, trustee member of Dhaka Art Center were also present during inauguration. At the end of the inauguration ceremony Chief Guest Mr. David Barikder announced the three winners and handed out the prizes. From category A Tanveer Abdullah Rahman, a super talented 17 year old got a Nikon D3000 DSLR camera.

In category B the winner is Md. Sazzad Hossain who own camera equipments worth BDT 30000. And from category C Arifur Rahman, a prominent photographer of Sylet, received a five thousand taka check from Bangladeshi Photographers.

Total 80 photographs were exhibited in two galleries of Dhaka Art Center from 4th to 8th August everyday from 3pm to 8pm. In Gallery 3 fifty shortlisted photographs from the competition were exhibited which includes ten photographs from Category A, twenty-five photographs from category B and fifteen photographs from category C. In Gallery 4 thirty handpicked photographs from Bangladeshi photographers archives was exhibited.

From 4th to 8th August Dhaka Art Center was packed with people of every age including photographers and art enthusiasts. The inauguration ceremony was not only the center of attraction of this event. A musical soiree was also arranged in Friday 6th August evening. And the exhibition was ended with an exclusive photography workshop called “The Secrets” conducted by Mohammad Moniruzzaman. The workshop was a huge success with the participation of more than 60 new photographers out side the Bangladeshi Photographers member list.

Bangladeshi photographers wants thanks their media partners Star Campus, Banglavision, and ABC Radio for their support during the exhibition. Many thanks go to the TV and different print media who covered the program. Bangladeshi photographers also thanks Chief Guest Mr. David Barikder and special guest Mr. Kawser Mahmud, who gave valuable advises to the young photographers.

But this is not the end of Bangladeshi Photographers venture to create new talents with the collaboration of photographic maestros. The second season of another unique photographic competition called “60 Shots” is starting soon under the Banner of Bangladeshi Photographers.

Photography is a journey to discover the word through the camera as a third eye. And through this art form we can find our own soul, emotions and expressions. Though Bangladeshi Photographers is an online photographic community the work peace of this organization goes beyond the virtual word to real life for bringing out the young and talented photographs of our country. “Bangladeshi Photographers Challenge”, the competition and exhibition was one of the long listed ventures that make this photography community unique from others, because Bangladeshi Photographers shares, cares and inspires.