Speaker, Lok Sabha Confers 2nd National Photo Awards

Speaker, Lok Sabha Confers 2^nd National Photo Awards

Photo Division keeping pace with technology: Shri Manish Tewari

 Life-Time Achievement Awards given to Shri Pranlal Patel, Shri T.S. Nagarajan, Shri T.N.A. Perumal

The 2^nd National Photo Awards- 2011-12 were conferred today by the Speaker, Lok Sabha, Ms. Meira Kumar to eminent photojournalists at a function held in Vigyan Bhavan. The Life-Time Achievement Awards were given to eminent photographers Shri Pranlal Patel, Shri T.S. Nagarajan and Shri T.N.A. Perumal.

In her address, Ms. Meira Kumar, Speaker, Lok Sabha said the Division through its initiatives had engaged in documentation, production and preservation of photographs through its news photo network, it had converted its conventional images into the digital format.

           Speaking on the occasion, the Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Shri Manish Tewari said that recognizing the technological advancements in the field of photography, Photo Division had adapted itself to the present-day digital revolution and had begun modernizing its equipment and programmes under Plan Scheme, functional efficacy accordingly. The Minister further added that the initiative of the Photo Division in encouraging other organizations particularly the State Information Departments to initiate the process of Digitization and the Digital Management of the Photographic Images was an important step in mainstreaming the role and relevance of photography in the communication landscape. He added that the endeavour of the Division to obtain very old archival images from different parts of country had enabled the Unit to obtain valuable photographs from the period 1880 onwards.

Lauding the award winners, the Minister said the function was a celebration of life to honour the stalwarts of the Indian photographic movement. Each of them had contributed innovatively in presenting the essence of life, the visual portrayal of India as a nation during the course of history. Their works also reflected the dynamic socio cultural ethos of the country in the realm of change and how photography had touched the pulse of the common man in day to day life.

The profile of the Life Time Achievement Award Winners is stated below:

            Shri Pranlal Patel, 104 years of age, has been the primary school teacher, who was inclined to photography as an amateur photographer but gradually the passion turned into profession. He captured the memories of our struggle for independence through his photographs. His picutures celebrate the glory of black and white. His photographs are not merely a collection of unmatched skills but also repository of social and historical values of time.

            The second recipient Shri T.S. Nagarajan, is an eminent photojournalist whose works have been exhibited and published widely in India and aborad. He has held exhibitions of his works all over the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, in 1982. He is a specialist in black and white photography, and has won several awards including the PATA Gold Award in 1987. He has illustrated a book ‘This India, a book for children, in addition to editing a number of picture books. He has written two books ‘A Pearl of Water on a Lotus Leaf…’, a memoir, and ‘Self-Portrait: The Story of My Life’, his autobiography.

            The third recipient, Shri T.N.A. Perumal is the doyen of wildlife photography in India. He embraced bird photography as passionate profession in 1960 and was awarded the artiste FIAP in Nature Photography in 1963 and Excellence FIAP in 1968. He won associateship of Royal Phographic Society of United Kingdom in 1977 and Fellowship of Royal Phographic Society of United Kingdom in 1978 and Master photographer of the Federation del’Art photographique of France in 1983. He is recognised as the father of India Photography. He is a member of Mysore Photographic Society and life member of Federation of Indian Photography. He has more than 1500 acceptances in national and international salons and has over 200 awards and merit certificates to his credit.

             In the Professional Category, the ‘Best Professional Photographer of the Year 2011-12’ has been given to Shri Salil Bera,  who has earned fame in the field of wildlife photography. Shri Bera has a long experience of working with reputed newspapers and magazines like Hindustan Times, Kalantar, Statesman and The Week. He has also won Honorary mention at UNEP Photo Competition in Japan in 2005.

The award of ‘Professional Photographer of the Year 2011-12 on Green India: Environmental Stories’ has been given to Shri Pankaj Sharma, who is among a few in India, who have been hornored with Associateship of India International Photographic Council, New Dehli and Fellowship of Federation of Indian Photography, Kolkata.

The award of ‘Professional Photographer of the Year 2011-12 on ‘Open Category’ was given to Shri Anil Risal Singh. He was also conferred Associateship of the Royal Photographic Society of Britan in 1991, Master Federation Internationale de L-Art Photographique by Federation Internale de L-Art Photographique, France and Charles Wallace Professional grant to visit UK to study photographic collection in different museums in UK in 1999.

Special Mention Awards (Professional) have also been given to Shri Anand Patel, Shri Atul Choubey, Shri Shib Narayan Acharya, Shri Kailash Soni, Shri Vinod Gajjar, Shri Chetan Soni, Shri Dilip Lokre, Shri Kailash Mittal, Shri Sanat Kumar Sinha and Shri Shankar Mandal Mondal.

In the Amateur Category, the ‘Best Amateur Photographer of the Year 2011-12’ has been given to Shri Subhash Jirange, an Accounts Officer with the Government of Maharashtra, who has developed penchant for photography in his early age. He has life membership of Photographic Society of India and Fellowship by Federation of Indian Photography, Kolkata and Associate of Photographic Society of India, Mumbai.

‘The Best Amateur Photographer of the Year 2011-12 on Life and Landscape of India’ was given to Shri Sudip Roychoudhury, who started shooting photos as an amateur in his high school days and received honour EFIAP from Federation International de l’Art photographique, France in 2010, AIIPC from India International Photographic Council, New Delhi in 2007 and FFIP from Federation of Indian Photography in 2005.

‘The Best Amateur Photographer of the Year 2011-12 on Fine Arts’ was given to Shri Debashish Ghosh Ray, who started phography in 1983 and grew up to be pictorial and creative photographer. He was honoured with the excellence of FIAP by the Federation International de-la-Art Photographic, Belgium and Associate of Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain and Fellow of Federation of Indian Photography. His award winning photogaphs have been placed in the album of National Federation of Hungary and International Exchange of photographs organised by FIAP.

Special Mention Awards (Amateur) category have also been given to Shri Asis Kumar Sanyal, Shri Joydeep Mukherjee, Shri Manish Bhatnagar, Shri Debashis Tarafder, Shri Sirsendu Gayen, Shri Subhrajit Basu, Shri Dhrumil Desai, Shri Subir Kumar Dutta, Shri Ganesh Shankar and Shri Rajesh Joshi.