The day i became someone

Four months into photography and I already made it to a photo exhibition. Sorry for sounding a little show-offish but my excitement level has blown the bulb. It was a dream almost come true for me when i learnt that my photos were selected for an exhibition and would be put up for people to view them!

It all started with a casual entry into the 'Bangalore Weekend Shoots' group in flickr and a check of the discussion called "BWS collective for INTACH". It was about sending our photos of heritage sites in Bangalore to an exhibition commemorating the "World's Heritage day". The moderator,had asked the group members to send what ever photos they had clicked of Bangalore and its important heritage sites and told us that the best 40 would be selected for the exhibition.

Just a week back I'd been to Lalbagh, with a friend, on a casual photo-shoot cum morning-walk and had taken a few pics of the temple like structure,a glass house and various other parts of the picturesque place. Luckily for me, these happened to be in the acceptable list of photographs and I sent some as my entries for the selection. Two days later it a mail from Peevee informed me that 2 of my photos had been selected into the final 40. It was pure exhilaration for me to know this! Barely 4 months of holding a camera and then getting to be up there meant a lot to me! So the news took some time to settle down.....Told a few close ones about it (symptoms of over-joy) and closed the day,a happy man.

The next day was a roller coaster ride! The climaxes were much sharper than a saas-bahu soap. I called up the moderator to confirm about the event schedule and the fellow gave me a horrible shock. He told me that the photos i sent him were of a lower resolution and he needed a hi-res image. The mistake I'd made was that I'd shot the picture at a lower res (3M) though my camera is of 9M one, I'd taken the pic at 3M unknowing about the resolution factor. So when it had to be enlarged to 20"x30" the quality of a low-res pic would be very low. That was what had happened in my case. He sounded a little negative about the next plans and told he'd call me up and confirm the issue; the next few hours for me were of total helplessness. I'd already taken permission from my lecturers that i would not attending the classes the next day n that I'd be in the photo exhibition. I'd also invited some of my friends and telling them the there wont be any of my exhibits due to res problem would be heart-breaking for me. I spent some anxious moments in the class room,being very impatient to get home and make a call to the person and confirm my participation.

The first thing i did after reaching home was to make a call to the concerned individual to find out about the status of my photographs. This was after 3 hours of tense moments & finally I could breathe easy. He said that there could be slight loss of pixels but that wouldn't be much of a problem and that the pictures could be put up in the exhibition, to where i could go the next day. This was a moment of crazy mad happiness for me.

The next day i woke up early or rather, i couldn't sleep at all the previous night. Wanted to reach there as fast as possible and check my photos.I reached Lalbagh at 630 am and as told by the moderator,i went and sat at the hill. Soon i met a couple of other people with cameras hung around their necks and supposed them to be the other participants, and participants they were. Soon the moderator came in his car along with my precious.The photos were all wrapped up and they were supposed to be kept at the band stand for a display.I was very nervous while opening the packets and when i saw the photos i was more than delighted to find them in a perfect state :) this was the best moment. They were better than expected and in just minutes after keeping them for display,one of them won a 'wow! this is simply the best!' comment :P i couldn't have been happier.The 20 of the 40 pictures were displayed in Lalbagh and the other 20 at Cubbon park.

The exhibiton at Lalbagh went on till 9 and we left for Bangalore fort.I got to see some stunning photographs there and helped some people with the arrangements. The sun had made its way to the top of our heads and standing within the rock fort, it was like trying to chill inside a microwave oven.I had invited some of my close ones for the exhibition.My amma was the first to arrive there.She ws soon followed by my aunt,cousins and my friends.We moved around the fort,looking at it,clicking photos and cursing the heat :P The rest of the day was spent in the fort doing nothing but bake in the sun and take photographs of everything sighted since the fort was not open to the public on the other days, and then look at the photos for the....ummm..well....i've lost the count :P Later I and a friend of mine went to Tippu's palace which is just a yard away from the fort.Its a beautiful place and we enjoyed the sight.We went around the place and had our lunch and were joined by another friend at the restaurant.Spent time in the sun again.It was evening by then and we were served some light snacks at the venue.This was followed by a programme but we moved out of it when the historian guest showed no signs of bringing a stop to his speech.I was given a set of postcards (of some of the featured exhibits)
as a compliment by BWS and we left the place with the photographs.

It was clearly one of the best days of my life.From being one in the crowd to one among the someones' was a welcome change.I was waiting for a long time for something significant,imporatnt to occur which would mark me and this was the day.
This was the day, I became someone. :)

(P.S : The photographs were also for sale and were priced at Rs.2500)