watch this film . . . click the link on the left . . .
so long . . . farewell . . . :-)
2
Review by Rahaab Allana in the Hindu
The passion that drives us…
When Prashant asked me to help with the festival, he said,’ I heard you need a little bit convincing’ – I actually didn’t – having spent the better part of the last two years in organization mode with photo festivals and workshops I had just told myself that ‘I must learn to say no’ and ‘I have to get back to photographing’. But how could I not? Of course, I had to say yes – The first ever photo festival in India? what a moment of joy, of community and of pride!
Weeks of planning, emailing back and forth at all odd hours and millions of phone calls later we arrived at the week the festival was to open. Sleep was out of the question – long nights were in place for the entire crew. The last week was all about getting it together – it felt surreal if not somewhat scary that it was time. The week… or what was actually 9 days of action packed events kept us running, so much so that I confess I didn’t see a single exhibit until the festival was actually over – it was a blur of visuals that we continued to run past a dozen times a day.
The response was overwhelming, to see the crowds coming in by the dozens to view the exhibitions, the packed-to-the-gills Casuarina Hall day after day for talks and workshops, the enthusiasm and the spirit of visitors, of artists and of the entire team. People were moved. Never had India seen a platform that brought together the different generations of photographers on one common platform. It was magical, it was emotional and it was beautiful.
They laughed, they cried and they learnt – the biggest part for me about the festival was bringing about a sense of belonging within the photographic community and ofcourse, to educate.
It was the passion for the medium of photography that was oozing out of every artist, every lecture and every person that walked through the door at Casuarina. It was inspiring to see people who were inspired at the festival – and there were so many! From wanting to photograph all over again to thinking of how they are going to move forward looking at all the possibilities that were presented in front of them. For me, planting that seed, of wanting more out of photography has been my favourite moment, hands down.
It is that passion for the medium that brought our team together and what a great team it was. From Dinesh and Prashant who spearheaded everything to Abhinav and Feroze who were there when the submission process began. Navneet’s meticulousness on accounts, admin and volunteers was tough to miss (and how could we forget the infamous colour coded excel sheets) along with Karan and Adil who worked day and night on the production end of things to bring together the 28 exhibitions. Gopika and Jeetin gave the festival its look and feel – the website, catalogue among other branding solutions were produced by them. Jeyanthi and her team along with Ragini designed the spaces and the exhibition systems. We were later joined by Hajra who copy edited the catalogue and Aditya and Sudhanshu who joined forces with the production team. Not to miss Kishore bhaiya who tirelessly did everything we needed help on – that was our little team and it was a pleasure to work with each and every one of you!
Dinesh and Prashant – there will never be enough credit or enough thank yous – hats off to you both – you gave life to the vision, we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to be a part of this… and a part of the magic if it weren’t for you both.
Lets make more magic! See you in 2013?
- Mansi Midha
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Gallery walk to end the Festival . . .
The Delhi Photo Festival quietly wound down on 28th Oct, last Friday . . . the last hour or so was dedicated to a Gallery walk conducted by Prashant and he was ably assisted by Adil and Karan in this . . . Zeeshan spoke about his own work . . .
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Dots creating Lines
by Navneet Kaur Ahuja
A journey just begins and I see many dots creating leading lines. Not a single dot is meant for a full stop.
I am not good at writing and considering that this is such an informal platform to share our own experiences, here I take liberty to share something. However, what I am feeling within would not be able to write exactly the same.
Dinesh Khanna and Prashant Panjiar started this journey approx 2 years ago. Abhinav Sanghi, Feroze, Dhanoa, Karan Vaid, Adil Hasan, Mansi Midha, , Hajra Ahmad Ansari, Aditya Kapoor, Sudhanshu Malhotra, Anamitra Chakladar and of course Navneet Kaur Ahuja joined hands this summer. By the time we moved little further, team was expanded again and some more volunteers were in. That’s how I call it a “Journey”. This journey will continue and we all will see many more seasons of Delhi Photo Festival. New traveler will surely join in the coming months and years and some will go away in different
directions to fulfill their individual dreams too but Delhi Photo Festival will keep coming and as I said earlier that I only see leading lines.
This whole process educated me a lot and I can see some leading lines in my life too 
Between all fun filled works, I was one and only silly girl in the team who was creating so called unique excel system on this artistic platform. And now, I think this is overly done by me and I should stop it before it becomes an “excel phobia” for my team mates. God save them, I didn’t share PPTs and other report formats so far 
A heartfelt thank to all team mates. I believe that DPF should not be less than a baby for Dinesh and Prashant but the kind of trust and openness they shown towards each team mate and the amount of freedom was given to each one of us to perform various activities was commendable. Amazingly everybody complimented each other’s working and Delhi Photo Festival actually came out in vibrant colors.
I wish many more years of success
DPF on Art Talk on NewsX
Art Talk with Jujhar Singh from the Delhi Photo Festival 2011. Meet Raghu Rai and Prabuddha Dasgupta. Check out intimate photographs of Mahatma Gandhi, taken by his grand nephew Kanu Gandhi. Kanu’s granddaughter is also on the show, telling anecdotes around the photographs. See works from over 70 Indian and foreign photographers. The festival’s creative directors – Prashant Panjiar, Dinesh Khanna and Dr. Alka Pande – also talk of what the festival is trying to achieve. Art Talk is on NewsX channel.
From the eyes of a camera owner: A festival to remember by Taniya Sahni
When I walked into India Habitat Center to witness the biggest event of Indian photography, the inaugural edition of the Delhi Photo festival, I walked in like a beggar. When I walked out, I was no less than a princess, enriched with all the artist talks that I attended, humbled by the photographs I saw and glowing after bathing my heart and soul in the works of legends displayed therein. It seldom happens that you are surrounded by such legendary figures in your field of interest. You can just walk upto them and interact, show your works and get appreciated or turned down (only to get up once again). Better still, they talk about their works in detail to a packed hall and answer your queries patiently. All that and more happened at the Delhi Photo festival. Halls full of photo exhibits, walks and talks with the artists and a lot to soak in. The 9 days that we spent at the venue (India Habitat Center), we literally camped there. And now that the festival is over (the exhibits are on till 28th Oct):
I am both confident and afraid of holding my camera again
I am confident of what I do not what to click or display
I am hungry for more.
I want to see the works and get inspired by more photographers.
I want to interact more with photographers and know the thought process that goes into making of a great picture.
I cannot wait for the next edition of the Delhi Photo festival
I am just a camera owner and I have a long way to go.
An unending journey has begun.
by Taniya Sahni
