World Photography Day is observed worldwide on 19th of August every year with a lot of zeal and enthusiasm. The day is not only celebrated by the staunch followers of photography, but all the people across the globe irrespective of their professions and interests come together and inspire the coming generations to understand the importance of photography.
On this particular day, millions of people capture different ideas and share their world with others, try to dwell in the imaginations of other photographers and moreover try bringing more happiness through the means of photography.
In a world where billions of photographs are uploaded every hour, World Photography Day inspires many photographers from around the world to disseminate their idea of a single picture with their single purpose, yet motivating multiple minds to think different.
From day to day life to unbelievable landscapes, this day witnesses a global gallery of images being captured by people with different skills, levels, knowledge living in a diverse range of countries and culture.
World Photography Day 2019
The World Photography day, 2019 was commemorated on 19th of August, Monday.
Every year on 19th August, World Photography Day is celebrated to promote photography as a hobby and also as a inspire photographers around the globe, motivating them to share a single photo with the rest of the world.
This year also World Photography Day was celebrated with much enthusiasm by the photo fraternity. Preparations for the day began in advance, at several locations around the world. Photographers from around the world submitted their entries (photographs) through several platforms, calling for their best shot picture.
World Photography Organization has called on photographers around the world to register and submit single photograph taken in 2019 in genres like – architecture, wildlife, creativity, landscape, travel, street photography etc.
The winner will bag the title of “Open Photographer of the year 2019” and get cash reward of $5000 (USD) and free flight tickets and lodging facility to the award ceremony in London. 15 Runner up awards will also be given under various entries.
In India’s capital city of Delhi, photography workshops were organized at Lodi road on Saturday, 17th August and Sunday, 18th August. Its main aim was to teach the learners about the use of DSLR cameras.
History of World Photography Day
The first announcement of a photograph was made on the 19th of August, 1939 in France. The prelude to this announcement was that on January 9, 1839, where the French Academy of Sciences proclaimed the Daguerreotype process.
Later, on the 19th of August of the very same year, the French government procured the patent and Francois Arago, the 25th Prime Minister of France gave a presentation to the French Academie des Science and Academie des Beaux Arts, which described the process of photography. Arago discussed its evaluation, and fathomed its brilliant future and proffered its free use to the world hence calling it as “Gift that was free to the world”.
On, August 19, 2010 the very first global online gallery was hosted. The day was historic because even though it was the first online gallery ever hosted yet the day witnessed 270 photographers sharing their ideas through the means of photographs and people from over 100 countries visited the website.
The Indian International Photographic Council, New Delhi under the guidance of its founder, Mr. O.P. Sharma reached out to various photographic luminaries to set a day to celebrate photography annually. The response was positive and the proposal was accepted in various countries. Since then, 19th of August is observed as World Photography Day all through the world.
Why World Photography Day is celebrated?
People from far and wide wait with rejoice for 19th of August to arrive. The aim of World Photography day is to share the ideas, encourage all to do their little towards this field, seek attention of people to spread the work of those who introduced their ideas of photography to the world.
The day is cherished so that the people from various countries and cultures can come under one roof and on a similar platform to further organize photo exhibitions, competitions, lectures, workshops, seminars etc. This day not only remembers the one who have contributed their share in the past, but also motivates the coming generation to participate and brush their skills under the guidance of learned scholars from this field.
Theme of World Photography Day
Every year, the World Photography Day has its own theme. The theme is decided as per the parameters set in accordance with the observance of the day. The World Photography Day on 19th of August 2017 was observed on the theme of “Understanding Clouds”. The main objective is to produce a user- friendly digital based photograph which is both, an authoritative and comprehensive photograph.
Various photographic societies will organize online and offline photographic contests based on different categories. The contest encourages people from all ages, sections, professions and customs to give their contribution share their stories and let others learn from their experiences.
World Photography Day Themes
- The theme of 2017 was “Understanding Clouds”.
- The theme of 2018 was “BE NICE”
- The theme of 2019 is yet to come.
How World Photography Day is celebrated?
Since 2010, World Photography Day has been celebrated across the globe to encourage and motivate people by letting them know by the means of seminars that what would it be like to live in a world without photographs. On this day many people take part in competitions and art gallery events to showcase their work, where they have put a lot of their efforts to make their best pieces.
Anybody can get involved in these contests, no matter how much experience one has or how many years of experience one carries with oneself. The organizing teams along with the sponsors of such events conduct worldwide media events, campaigns and other such activities to gather people to spread the knowledge of photography.
The one major problem with photography is that the profession needs a lot of investment and it becomes a little difficult for a start up to arrange for financers to support his further plans. The photography Day celebration is one-of-its-kind and provides solution to such start ups.
People from all the sectors come and join the exhibitions, not only they admire the work but also hire people for the projects where they are interested to invest and in such ways this day provides platform for the youngsters to believe in their hard work and show their talent to the rest of the world. It is all about celebrating and acknowledging photography whether one is an amateur, hobbyist or a professional.
Some of the examples of events held in recent years across the world are as follows:
India
In India, World Photography Day is celebrated with a lot of zeal and fervor. Not only it is celebrated in its national capital but all over the country in all the states in the form of several activities undertaken by different groups of people. Students from various universities organize inter college competitions. One such event was recently organized by the students of Sri Prakash Vidyaniketan.
There, the renowned wildlife Photographer Captain Suresh Sharma, fashion photographer B.K. Agarwal and Professional photographer Prabal Mohanty attended as special guests. These luminaries shared their insights into the art of photography. Likewise the members of Professional Photographers and videographers Association celebrated World Photography Day at Y.V.S. Murthy Auditorium, Andhra University College of Engineering. Registrar V. Uma Maheshwar Rao inaugurated the photo exhibition.
Every year, Eye testing camps, cultural activities and presentation of awards to meritorious students also forms a part of this countrywide celebration. Not only this, a number of exhibitions all around the country are also organized where the work is much praised, the funds collected thereafter are utilized for philanthropic purposes.
United States of America
U.S.A. is home to the giant application owner Mark Zuckerberg. In the recent past, Facebook became a platform for a number of people across the globe to appreciate the work of photographers. World Photographic Forum is a Facebook group for the photo lovers, of the photo lovers and by the photo lovers. The forum started awarding the photographs from 1st of February 2017.
Here the photographs are scrutinized by renowned Facebook mentors of this group and best images are declared as the Curator Choice on a day to day basis. Not only this but people from all over the country, welcome the day with wide open arms, take part in the contests and appreciate each other’s work.
France
The World Photography Day is much awaited in France more because the origin of photography has been witnessed here. People welcome the day with much happiness and various contests are run. Not only various exhibitions are set up in the public and private sector but the works of amateur are put down the street and everybody appreciates the works.
French people share their leisure time between practicing sports, clicking pictures and going to the cinema. They also either go to the sea or to the mountains, do some walking, share time together and cherish the day as it gives them the opportunity to capture the moment of today forever.
England
Each year World Photography Day is welcomed in England with much joy. In England, photography is celebrated during the entire year through the means of various awards and ceremonies. People from various countries take part in the famous World Photography Awards held annually in London, England. The Sony World Photography Awards reveals the winners and runner ups in their open category in the month of January that rewards the single best images in architecture, portraits, wildlife and more by photographers from around the world.
There are also other special categories like travel, holidays and lifestyle. The celebration of World Photography Day provides a wide platform for the people of England to spread awareness of various problems faced by the country by the means of photography. Seminars are kept on the theme of the most substantial issues which the country is coming across and in this way photograph becomes a medium of spreading awareness amongst the people of England.
Suggestions for Celebrating Photography in India
India is a vast country with different customs and traditions. Everybody has their own way of celebration what they get enthralled by. There are thousands of people who join one or other college to learn photography; some are God gifted for their discerning insights towards the art of photography.
Great photographers have been a part of our community like Raghu Rai, Homai Vyarawalla, Dabboo Ratnani, Dayanita Singh and many more for a very time. Now is the time for our coming generation to prove their mettle in this field as well. Here are some suggestions to celebrate the World Photography Day in India;
- Indians must recognize photography as a profession and not as some college hobby taken up by their child and motivate him/her to learn the specifics and details of the same through professional colleges.
- On the World Photography Day, special fundraising events should be organized in every city where everybody can take part without any entry fee and on the basis of their work can be helped to get admissions in schools and colleges to pursue their dreams.
- One must be given strong foundation through their early childhood development where parents indulge their child into his/her interest and focus on the areas where the child finds himself/herself more passionate. This way the command of the person on the techniques of photography can be enhanced.
- Not only boys, but also girls should be supported towards their area of interest, special seminars to enroll only females should be set up on World Photography Day. Thereafter, job relevant skills should be taught and this can also decrease the issue of unemployment amongst the females.
- During the entire year, the creation of an environment that encourages investment and creativity in the field of photography should be promoted. This requires innovation specific skills to help connect people with ideas.
- Everybody should move out, let one self free from hectic routines, take out their old cameras, walk around and take some pictures to preserve the time in photographic form.
Conclusion
World Photography Day is a celebration of all the communities which connects millions of people around the globe. It aspires to bring a positive change in the world, whether it’s in our everyday choices or through the organization we support. It is not only a day; it is a soft touch of the camera every day, a flash of light and a moment in our lives that is captured forever. Today photography has become an indispensable part of our lives and has evolved into being a tool that connects us all. In that spirit, people across the world are celebrating 177 years of photography. No matter who you are, where you are; World Photography Day helps us open our eyes to possibility of photography and enables us to share the world as we see it.
