by Suman Gupta
July, 2019 | New Delhi: Capturing WOW initiated by WOW Awards and curated by ace photographer Luv Issrani, concluded on Saturday evening amidst esteemed photographers and film-makers. The event to celebrate the photography and wedding film making fraternity, focused on providing a way forward to explore new business opportunities in the sector. The most distinguishing part of the event was the special blend of insightful Expert Jams (Master-classes) alongside Live-shoots and the WOW Summit which allowed the delegates to not only learn from a distance but also interact with their favorites on a one-on-one conversation throughout the 2 days.
The event was inaugurated by one of the most looked up to and admired professionals – A veteran in the field of Wedding Planning, with over 40 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Mr. Mahesh Shirodkar from Tamarind Global.
The WOW Summit was an intense culmination of the best from the event and wedding industry discussing insights on the topics: Everything is Content & Content is Everything moderated by Mahesh Shirodkar (Managing Director – Tamarind Global) with panelists including Chetan Vohra (Founder, Director – Wedding Line), Khantil Mehta (Founding Director – GoBananas), Madhavan Pillai (Chief Editor – Better Photograpy) and Anand Shahani (Co-Founder & CEO – WedMEGood); Discovering Your Style moderated by Anand Rathi (Reels and Frames) with presentations by Arjun Kamath (Arjun Kamath Photography), Rafique Sayed (Rafique Sayed Photography), Raonak Hatiramani (Recall Pictures), Nitin Dangwal (Shutterink) and Abhimanyu Sharma (Going Bananas Photography) and Collaboration is the New Black moderated by Megha Isrrani (Isrrani Photography and Signature Filmz) with panelists including Neha Seth (Var Vadhu Weddings), Rahul Kumar (Vivaah Weddings), Rajeev Jain (Rashi Entertainment), Akash Agarwal (WeddingNama), Jayant Chhabra (Cupcake Productions) and Lakshya Chawla (Shutterdown).
Experts Jam was an initiative where masterminds from the photographers and the filmmaker’s community shared their expert insights into various methods of Capturing ‘WOW’ moments with still photography, cinematography & post production. The topics covered ranged from Experience Counts by the veteran Raju Sultania with close to 5 decades of experience in the field, to Photography – When Art meets Business by Anand Rathi of Reels and Frames, Awards – Cracking the Code by Abhimanyu Sharma of Going Bananas Photography, Decoding Couple Portraits by Saurabh Rungta, Black and White Photography by the Maestro Rafique Sayed, Secrets of Sustaining Happy Clients by Luv Isrrani from Signature Filmz and Isrrani Photography, Storytelling through pictures by Arjun Kamath, Science of Selling by Arjun Kartha of Twogether Studios and to Finding your Inspiration by Divyam Mehrotra. The most important aspect was the WOW Gallery which displayed the best works by 30 photographers and the WOW Premier which showcased 12 world-class films by promising film-makers in the country.
“I have travelled the world and have always seen the photography community come together in other countries but it was always missing in India. Ever since then, I have been envisioning a great platform to be built for the photographers and filmmakers here, and today I feel extremely ecstatic to witness my dream turning into reality. I am really thankful to all our Lords of the Lens who supported this initiative wholeheartedly, our partners who entrusted us, the participants who had a belief in us to provide them immense value and everybody that supported us. I’ve had plans to engage the community with newer value driven initiatives throughout the year and with such an overwhelming response, my belief in taking this initiative to the next level has just got stronger.” said Luv Isrrani who passionately drove this initiative with Vishal Nagdev from WOW awards.
Arjun from Twogether Studios who conducted an Expert Jam on ‘Science of Selling’ quoted “This platform is going to be a founding stone for many such platforms. Nevertheless, it’s a gift for those who want to share their expert knowledge and secrets of the trade. There was quite a lot to learn from other experts too, Capturing WOW has opened the doors for the exchange of not just skills but ideas, hope to see many more of this getting carried forward”
“I really enjoyed being a part of this event and I was just so happy to not only see so many people choosing photography as a career but also taking steps to take it to the next level. It was the need of the hour to do so, in the time of selfies and accessibility it is important to learn and create stories from photographs that will make you stand out from the crowd and gives you a sense of individuality in the business” said one of the delegate attending the event.
The initiative was strongly supported by partners like Canon, Panasonic Lumix, GoPro, Lacie – a premium storage solution for professionals by Seagate, and Vitec group which includes brands like Manfrotto, Joby, Gitzo, Avenger, Litepanels, Lowepro and National Geographic to name a few. Multiple contests were conducted by these brands and rewarded the winners with exclusive gadgets and gears.
