MG ROAD:The magnificent beauty of Indian and African elephants in their natural habitat, captured by the lenses of talented photographers, were on display at Rangoli Metro Art Centre on Sunday.
Handpicked from over 800 pictures taken by 160 photographers from across the globe, the collection showcased awe-inspiring moods of the jumbos. Friends of Elephants, an informal group, was the driving force behind this expo. “Photographs are a powerful tool to convey a message and our objective behind the show is to create awareness about these wonderful creatures as well as highlight the man-animal conflict,” said Surendra Varma, a key member of the group and a research scientist by profession.
Three best photographs from the exhibition were selected by the panel of judges at the venue and the winners will get coupons worth Rs 12,000 from Darter Photography. The coupons can be used on a trip to the internationally renowned Agumbe rainforest area near Shivamogga. Seven other good photographs received coupons by Honey Comb’s ‘Photoshop’ which would entail free printing of photographs at the venue.
Friends of Elephants has been organising such one-day awareness programmes at the gallery since January 2014 and hopes to continue holding such events every month. Documentaries, talks, skits, short plays, poetry - every form of communication is being deployed by the team to highlight various aspects related to elephants, including the cruelty they are subjected to at the hands of humans.
Elaborating on the event, Chief Public Relations Officer, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited, U A Vasant Rao said that the response from public to the programme has been very good.
A documentary by Sandeep Kadur was screened later in the evening and it was followed by a talk by Ajay Desai.