The ongoing Indian Photo Festival (IPF) at Hyderabad’s State Art Gallery is running its 5th edition now. Photographers across the world have participated in this month-long event which concludes on October 20. From Delhi, photographers Saumya Khandelwal and Vineet Vohra have participated in this global creative forum. While Khandelwal was one of the speakers at the event, Vohra brought aspects of street photography for the amateurs on Hyderabad’s land.
Khandelwal much-appreciated project, entitled Child Brides of Shravasti in Uttar Pradesh, was the centre of her talk. Her deeply-thoughtful work focusses on the lives of many young girls, who from being a carefree child enters early marriage scene. At the venue, the photographer talked about various facets of her engagement with the girls.
Vineet Vohra, in a conversation with The Morning Standard talked about his process of navigating a new space, here in case Hyderabad. “It’s usually impromptu but I study the area for an hour where I am supposed to shoot. I mostly look for crowded spaces where I know I will get some good pictures.”
He also says that the level of the festival has gone one notch high as compared to 2018. “There are many series’ by Indian photographers on display this year along with good international names.
The festival, supported by the Deparment of Tourism, Government of Telangana is organised in collaboration with Lightcraft Foundation.
Aquin Mathews, curator of IPF, says, “The festival has witnessed several iconic photographers from different genres to initiate a substantial dialogue around photography. This year festival had a great honour of collaborating with National Geographic as a presenting partner and we have initiated a photography grant program for the first time,” adding, “ Here, a grantee will receive `3 lakh to pursue a long-term project and also will get a chance to exhibit their work at the festival in the next year.”
According to him, this initiative is to support photography and photographers in India and build a strong ecosystem for the photographic community.
The spectacular images are spread across the city alongside the gallery such as metro stations, parks and airport among others – all easily accessible to a person who doesn’t necessarily visit an art gallery.