Most of the star guests could have vouched for it, including chief guest Salman Khan. The superstar, who took time off from promoting his upcoming film Yuvvraaj, which is slated for a November 21 release-reiterated his passion for photography as he proclaimed his love for black-and-white images while criticising the present dominance of digital cameras.

The awards–instituted by the Ramnath Goenka Foundation in 2004–celebrate best images captured by Indian photographers in 2006-07 under 18 categories. Each of them capture moments which are now part of Indian history. Some have frozen the fleeting moments in news forever and some a rare aspect of human life, easily overlooked in everyday affairs.

An excellent example of this is the Ramnath Goenka Picture Of The Year, which was won by Ritesh Uttamchandani. It shows Mumbai serial blast victim Sandford DeSales in a coffin and his mourning relatives surrounding it. This, along with 27 other award-winning photographs, will be displayed at Express Gallery till December 5. The exhibition will travel across the country after its Mumbai stint.

The IPPA 2008, sponsored by Canon, had received an overwhelming 8,801 entries from 226 photographers in India. The panel of judges–renowned photojournalists Prashant Panjiar, Pablo Bartholomew and Harsh Man Rai-had selected one winner from each of the 18 categories. Speaking at the function, Panjiar elaborated on what made them pick up the winners and Canon India senior vice-president Alok Bhardwaj delivered the closing speech.

After looking at the winning photographs on display, guest of honour Anupam Kher said, “The impact of still photographs is much higher that moving images.” The actor-director admitted to his passion for collecting photographs while his actor wife Kirron Kher expressed her appreciation for the heartwarming photos on display, particularly Sohrab Hura’s image capturing Holi in Brijbhoomi.

Other prominent attendees of the evening were model-turned-actress Mugdha Godse, Lakme head Anil Chopra, actor Kitu Gidwani, former Indian captain Dilip Vengsarkar, former hockey captain Dhanraj Pillay and designer Nachiket Barve. Noted theatre personalities Joy Sengupta, Rahul DaCunha and Anuvab Pal as well as socialite couple Arti and Kailash Surendranath also dropped in to look at the awarded photographs.
-FE Bureau