The Oscar Winning Moment

     I would like to thank God, my parents, my siblings, my friends, my cat, my camera, my laptop, my smartphone, facebook and finally the Bangalore Photowalk group from the bottom of my heart and blah blah blah. As cliched as it sounds, I cannot in my wildest of imaginations dream of reciting this.

But yes, the moment did arrive. Not once but twice in a year. Compelling enough to share with you dear bloggie. Not being modest, but I sincerely believe I have just begun and have a long way to. And this sure is highly encouraging. I am but only humbled.

How would you as an amateur react to winning a photography contest you had participated just for the fun of it. I bagged the second prize of $500 cash for a picture of a woman shot in the middle of a busy commercial street in Bangalore on a bright afternoon last year. This street houses some henna artists from the state of Rajasthan who've made the street their homes. They make a living by carving intricate henna designs on the palms of women & children shopping there. While all the artists were busy at work, this particular woman caught my attention as she seemed deeply lost in her thoughts, despaired and yet had not lost hopes. They say he who has never hoped will never despair. So dream on and one day you will get there. This clearly became the theme of my entry in the contest too. This image will now be used for advertising & promotion campaigns by a multi-national IT company. I feel so proud.

My second claim to fame arrived at the end of the same year when I was informed one of my images got selected by the Bangalore Photowalk group to be featured in their Desk Calendar for 2013 in the category of Street photography.The image is an abstract of a collection of the then made pots placed under the sun for drying. 

I still remember this was my first ever photowalk with the group in February last year and I was happy, excited, nervous and apprehensive of walking with a bunch of total strangers in the pottery town. And today, I have proudly placed the calendar at my workstation intending to draw my colleagues’ attention just so I can brag about my achievement. Purely kidding. But who does not like a wee bit of attention?!

I hope to pursue photography this year too with an additional focus on DIY subjects. Oh and did I say increased participation in events/contests? 

Enough said, see you at the Oscars next year.