BENGALURU: Come May 25 and Bhargav Ram is going to be by his camera all day. The freelance photographer is taking part in a global photography event that requires him to share one photo per hour for the entire 24 hours of the day. Titled the ‘24 Hour Project’, Ram found the event on Instagram. “I found this event peculiar and interesting. The idea of spreading awareness through a photograph interested me. This is my first year of participation and I am really looking forward to it,” he said. Ram is one among 3,000 odd registered photographers from around the world who will take part in the annual global street photography event. It aims to bring together visual storytellers from cities all around the world and urges them to document humanity and raise awareness about global issues.
“We started this as a way to share different ways to view and connect as humans. It takes place in one single day all around the world,” said Renzo Grande, co-founder of 24 hour project. This year, the event will take place on May 25 and participants are expected to share one photo per hour during the 24 hours. City-based photographer, Vaishnavi Menon isn’t just excited by the idea but by this year’s theme too, which revolves around women empowerment. “It has only been a couple of months since I started clicking pictures and this event will test my ability as a visual storyteller. As an aspiring photojournalist, the thought of clicking photographs for a purpose and a theme excites me,” she shared. Mohammad Saif Ansari, one of the three ambassadors from India for this event, added that they will be organising various exhibitions across the world after the event with the best clicks.
“All the money collected last year from various exhibitions were given to Shakti Vahini, an organisation working against human trafficking and violence against women and children in India. This year too, the money will be donated to numerous NGOs,” he said. The 24-hour project starts on Saturday, May 25, which means that the photographers will start documenting their city at 00.00 hours of Saturday till 23.59 hours in the photographer’s city. After the event, there will be an open call for a chance to be included in travel exhibitions which will help them attain international recognition.