For creating awareness on Nature and Wildlife, Photography and Short Film series was organized by Amrita Center for Environmental Studies (CES) in association with Amrita School of Communication (ASCOM), Amrita Photography Club (APC) and Amrita Prakriti Samrakshana Samiti (Nature Club from January 9 – March 7, 2014.
To begin with, a Photography and Short Film competition with theme Birds and Butterflies of Amrita’s Coimbatore campus was called for in January 2014 from students, faculty, staff and other people residing in the campus. Over 114 photographs and eight short films were received. These were reviewed by peer experts, Dean of Amrita School of Engineering Dr. M. P. Chandrasekharan, Wildlife Photographers from Bangalore Mr. J. S. Nathan and Mr. V. Gopi Krishna.
A half-day workshop on Wildlife Photography was conducted on February 25, 2014, by the Wildlife photographers from Bangalore. They shared about the techniques of photography, their experience in wildlife photography and desert ecosystem.
“Light, Exposure and Frame are very important,” they pointed out. They showcased the colorful images of animals, birds, butterflies and other wildlife shots from the forests of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Assam and Sundarbans in India; forests of Bhutan, Nepal, Africa, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and many other places. Around 150 people participated in the workshop.
The series of events concluded with the Photography and Short Film Exhibition conducted from March 5 – 7, 2014. Dr. M. P. Chandrasekharan, Dean, ASE inaugurated the exhibition, distributed cash awards and mementos to the winners.
Students of Amrita School of Engineering Vignesh S. (EEE), Theiva Prakasham H. (EIE) and Abhishek A. (Civil) bagged the top three places in Photographycategory. In Short Films category, Uthirum Siragugal by Vignesh S. of EEE and two of his friends bagged the first prize. Another short film U by Prasanna R. and his companions of CSE took second place.
In addition to the competitive photographs, other exhibited photographs included transformation of Amrita’s Coimbatore campus from 1998 to 2010, winners of the previous years, personal collections of Dean of Amrita School of Engineering Dr. M. P. Chandrasekharan, Assistant Professor of Amrita Center for Environmental Studies (CES) Dr. V. S. Ramachandran, Assistant Studio Manager of Amrita School of Communication (ASCOM) Mr. V.S. Binoy, Multimedia Assistant Mr. R. Sundhararaman, Mr. Radhakrishnan of Radhaa Studio, Coimbatore, Associate Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering Dr. Maya Mahajan and photos of Amrita Prakriti Samrakshana Samiti (Nature Club).
The exhibition was open for three days, which drew the attention of the entire fraternity of Amrita Contentishwa Vidyapeetham, their family members residing in the Campus and Amrita Vidyalayam students. The exhibition hall decorated with plants and background music played of bird calls recoded from the Campus gave visitors a feel of being in the forest for some time, which was a wonderful experience for many.
“The pictures are really beautiful and artistic. The films showcased were very innovative and an eye opener for us. We enjoyed a lot,” shared a bunch of students from Amrita Vidyalayam, Ettimadai.
A team under the leadership of Dr. M. Aravindakshan and Dr. V.S. Ramachandran of Amrita Center for Environmental Studies Mr. V. S. Binoy (Assistant Studio Manager, Amrita School of Communication), Ms. R. Aarthi (Assistant Professor, Department of Information Technology), Dr. Maya Mahajan (Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering) worked hard to make the series of events a grant success.
