The Photographic Society of Madras (PSM) and the city have been friends for 160 years. The PSM, one of the three oldest in the world and the oldest in India, was formed in 1857, and its love for Madras, and later Chennai, has stayed strong. The two have enjoyed a symbiotic relationship built on mutual admiration — the city never fell short of opportunities to shoot great pictures, and the lensmen never failed to grab them. The result is a wonderful recording of its colourful history.
PSM members organised a Shoot Madras event as a birthday bash for the city in 2014, and it is now an annual event. For the 2016 celebrations, PSM sent out three themes — My Madras, Only in Madras and Evolving Madras. You could join the Student or Open category, use any camera you had (smartphones were okay too), send the pictures identifiable with name/title/theme/category to a designated e-mail ID.
A record 516 entries from 139 participants clogged the PSM inbox. A panel of judges headed by award-winning photographer S. Vijayamurthy sifted through these images of Chennai in all its shades and angles. “The standard of entries has been improving steadily,” says B. Ramana Kumar, president, PSM.
Picking the best in the pile was tough. The theme mattered the most, but photography is also about composition (light, angle, perspective, clarity, focus), colour, and aptness and these were considered. The judges, says Ramana, were liberal with student entries, so as to encourage them.
The winning images were exhibited in the lobby of Ampa Skywalk from August 24 to 27. Eighteen winners received gold, silver and bronze medals, and certificates were given to as many for special mention.
Here are some of the winning pictures with the captions detailing what the photographers have attempted to show. The creations tell you numerous stories about the life and times of this majestic city.