After Class
Preparing to Celebrate
Rakibul Hasan
Photos: DUPS
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Sorting out through the entries. |
In celebration of its 12th anniversary, the Dhaka University Photographic Society (DUPS) is going to arrange a photo festival entitled 'Dell-DUPS 1st National Photography Festival, 2012' from August 22, 2012 to August 28, 2012. The festival will feature one hundred and sixty selected photographs taken by the students of schools, colleges and universities from all across Bangladesh, workshops for student photographers on different aspects of photography such as light, compositions, exposure and so on conducted by the renowned photographers of the country, multiple seminars and also cultural programmes.
Since its foundation in 1999, DUPS has grown up to be one of the most active and popular co-curricular bodies in the array of clubs and student associations that DU harbours. The activity of this noted club involves recruiting new members during the months of December and January, arranging weekly photo discussions, photo walks every Friday in different parts of the city, and also lectures by internationally acclaimed photographers from both home and abroad. The club currently consists of hundreds of members and many active alumni.
To celebrate its 12th anniversary in a befitting manner, this year the club has planned to step out of the premises of DU and to go national for the fist time. The upcoming DUPS National Photography Festival has been divided into four phases namely the national photography contest and exhibition, photography workshops, photo exhibitions and seminars on photography.
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Students work hard preparing for the exhibition. |
The national photography contest and exhibition will be taking place in Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy from August 22 to 28, 2012. The selection of photos to be exhibited in the contest has already been conducted earlier this year. Photos were invited from the student photographers from all over Bangladesh. More than thousand entries were submitted for the contest and of them only 62 have been selected to qualify for the contest in three different categories namely school, college and university. A jurisdiction panel consisting of renowned photographers like Abir Abdullah, Shafiqul Alam Kiron and Shoeb Faruquee will judge the photos in terms of different photographic aspects such as light, composition, colour and so on. The best three photographers from each category will be awarded with special gifts and photography training courses in DUPS. During the festival, there will also be five workshops arranged by DUPS for the young photographers from schools, colleges and universities. The workshops will be conducted by renowned photographers where they will communicate with the participants on a number of issues related to photography. The workshops will be held on consecutive days starting from August 23, 2012 to August 28, 2012 at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka. One of the highlights of the festival will be the annual photography exhibition where fifty selected photographs taken only by the DUPS members will be exhibited.
Kazi Shama Zinat, a student of Rajsahi Medical College, says, “I was totally taken aback when I got to know that my photos have been selected to be exhibited in the national photography exhibition during the 'DUPS 1st National Photography Festival'! I am planning to curtail my Eid vacation with my family and to go to Dhaka just the day after Eid-ul-fitr to participate in the festival. I have found this photography festival to be unique since it involves the exhibition and competition of photographs taken by the students of different age groups. I think photography festivals of this kind can be a good platform for the amateur photographers to reveal their talents to the public.”
In the small office room of DUPS located on the ground floor of the Teachers Students Centre (TSC) of Dhaka University, DUPS members are seen engaged in taking the last minute preparations for the upcoming photography festival before the Eid vacation. “At DUPS we have been going through a very busy schedule for last few months to make the festival a success. Currently our members are busy compiling and editing a number of write-ups sent by photographers from all across the county, which are to be published in a special supplement published by DUPS on the occasion of its anniversary,” says Shuvashish Ranjan Sarker, President, DUPS.
So, if you are into photography and want to see the works of young photographers from all over Bangladesh in one place or you just want to be a part of this vibrant group of young talents, visit the group page of DUPS on Facebook and confirm your participation.
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