Young photographers aspire high

1st place winner in the Portrait category, Photographer: Ahsan Ahmed Chowdhury, North South University

Secretary for Cultural Affairs Mudabbir Hussain Chowdhury inaugurated the exhibition. NSU Vice Chancellor Hafiz GA Siddiqi was present at the ceremony.

NSUPC held the first edition of the exhibition in 2000 inviting only the private universities of the country. The next exhibition took place in 2002 which included the national universities also. The 2003 exhibition comprised colour photographs only.

This year's exhibition has invited about 300 photos from about 55 photographers of 14 universities to compete in seven categories. The categories are Action, Landscape, Portrait, Architecture, Life Style, Nature and Still Life. Each of the categories has two sections for colour and black-and-white photographs.

The ten participating universities of Bangladesh are Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Jahangirnagar University, Shah Jalal University, BRAC University, University of Development Alternative (UODA), University of Asia Pacific, Asian University of Bangladesh, Independent University Bangladesh, East West University and the host North South University. Among the foreign universities are University of Guelph from Canada, University of Western Sydney from Australia, University of Delhi from India, and University of Assiut from Egypt.

A panel of judges has judged two best photos from each of the categories. The panel comprised four renowned photographers of the country-- Dr Shahidul Alam of Drik, Nasir Ali Mamun of the Daily Prothom Alo, Dr. Rashid un Nabi and Abir Abdullah of Aalok.

The photographs reveal various aspects of the country--its natural beauty, habits of people, religious practices--and thus uphold the expression of the young minds of these young photographers. A few photographs depict so much brilliance of the photographers' artistic maturity that eminent photographer Nasir Ali Mamun is very hopeful of their talent. 'When we started photography about 30 years ago, there were not more than 10 to 12 cameras in the whole Dhaka city. Now, the situation has changed and technologically enhanced equipment has made photography more artistic and perfect,' he said. 'Although the medium has not existed in this region for a long time, I firmly believe that these young generation photographers have much potential of producing international level photographs,' he added.

The exhibition remains open till March 19 from 11 am to 7 pm.