Every year, the University of Hyderabad conducts a contest where students go around campus and click photos. The best ones are then selected for an annual calendar. The theme this year was capturing the smallest creatures in the campus. It received a whopping 200 entries and a total of 24 photographs by students and some of the professors made it to the final calendar.
Ravi Jillapalli, who’s pursuing his final year PhD in School of Life Sciences, says, “Wildlife and bird photography has been my hobby since school. After the theme was announced, I developed a liking to insect photography too. Eight of my photos made it to the calendar, which is a record. Most weekends, I go around the campus and click photos and I think it’s a good idea to hold a contest. I’m really excited that I made it to the calendar.”
Each winning student gets a calendar for free. The yearly calendar was the idea of Ramakrishna Ramaswamy, the former Vice Chancellor of UoH. Mahesh Gokara, who is pursuing his final year of Biochemistry at the University, says, “I submitted two photos — of a bug and a spider and both were selected. It was a really good experience. I started pursuing photography as a hobby and won two national awards recently.”
K. Vamshidhar, MA Communication, fourth semester, Radio & Video Production, says, “I participated in the contest for the first time. I sent 10 photos and two were selected. I have been in the field of photography for more than six years and graduated in BFA (Photography & Visual Communication) from JNAFAU. It was a pleasant experience exploring the campus; we have beautiful biodiversity to capture.”
