POY 2011: Celebrating India’s Best Photographers
Canon-Better Photography Photographer of the Year 2011 winners Nilesh Bhange, Baiju Patil, Sudipto Das, Vinit Gupta, Neelima Vallangi, SL Shanthkumar, Nirvair Singh and Gokul Mudambile with their awards
After a long hard journey, the Canon-Better Photography Photographer of the Year 2011 culminated in a wonderful awards night, filled with happy and sometimes nervous moments.
On 1 February 2012, the Canon-Better Photography Photographer of the Year awards came to a spectacular finish at Hyatt Regency, Mumbai. The ceremony featured some great performances and happy moments, as the nominees were presented with the awards. The atmosphere was filled with nervous excitement, as the eight nominees waited with baited breath for the announcement of the overall winner of this illustrous awards.
Here is a look at the Final Face-off images by our participants.
A curtain raiser for the Canon-Better Photography Photographer of the Year 2011 will aired on CNBC TV18 on Saurday, 18 February at 3:30pm and the awards function will be shown on Sunday, 19 February at 5:30pm.
Better Photography started the Photographer of the Year awards in 2005, with about 7000 entries, and year after year it has grown to become one of the most recognised platforms for upcoming photographers. Seven years down the line, this year we surpassed our own records with almost 70,000 entries from all over India, including the more remote parts of our country, like Dhaknakhma in Assam and Pathanamthitta in Kerala!
Here is a look at the best images submit to Canon-Better Photography Photographer of the Year 2011 from each theme.
Amongst the Industry’s Finest
The whos-who of the photography industry were present at the awards, including Ashok Salian, Swapan Parekh, Arko Dutta, Indraneel Mukherjee, Amit Ashar, Kedar Bhide, Adhik Shirodkar, Sanjay Moga, amongst others. The awards were also attended by Seiji Hamanishi, Assistant Director, ICP, Canon India. Legendary photographer Raghu Rai was also present at the event, and was also the key-note speaker of the awards ceremony.
The awards night also featured terrific performances by artist Vilas Nayak, who enthralled the audience with creating on-the-spot paintings.
In a enthralling performance, Vilas Nayak paints the legendary Dev Anand for the audience.
A second painting by Vilas Nayak on the Spirit of Mumbai
The Photographer of the Year
And finally, at the end of the ceremony, S L Shanthkumar from Chennai was announced the Canon-Better Photography Photographer of the Year 2011. Expressing his joy, Shanthkumar said that he was honoured to have received the awards amongst the legends of photography.
A humble S L Shanthkumar after being awarded the title of Photographer of the Year 2011
As the grand prize, he won a Canon EOS 7D, photobooks from Canvera along with the coveted title of Canon-Better Photography Photographer of the Year 2011 on a national platform. Each theme winner also received photobooks from Canvera along with coupons for photograph personalisation.
Seiji Hamanishi, the Assistant Director, ICP division, Canon India shows off the grand prize, the Canon EOS 7D
Here are some more behind-the-scenes photographs from the Canon-Better Photography Photographer of the Year 2011:
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- Vinit Gupta accepts the ‘Photoessay Song of the Road’ Canon-Better Photography Photographer of the Year 2011 award from Mahendra Parikh and Arko Datta
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- The hosts for the evening Sumiit Lakhutia and Avneet Kohli.
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- The February issue of Better Photography on display at the venue
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- Raghu Rai judges the Final Face-off submissions for Photographer of the Year 2011
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- Raghu Rai at the judging of the Canon-Better Photography POY 2011 Final Face-off
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- K Madhavan Pillai, Editor, Better Photography, hands the mike over to our final judge and chief guest for the evening Raghu Rai to say a few words
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- Guests at the Canon-Better Photography Photographer of the Year 2011 Awards night
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- Guests at the Canon Better Photography POY 2011 Awards night are welcomed with some stunning images that were a part of each theme of the contest
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- The fight for the Photographer of the Year 2011 begins
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- Raghu Rai with the theme winners of Canon-Better Photography Photographer of the Year 2011
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- Canon-Better Photography Photographer of the Year 2011 winners Nilesh Bhange, Baiju Patil, Sudipto Das, Vinit Gupta, Neelima Vallangi, SL Shanthkumar, Nirvair Singh and Gokul Mudambile with their awards
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- S L Shanthkumar, Photographer of the Year 2011, speaks to fashion photography maestro Ashok Salian
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- Editor, Better Photography, K Madhavan Pillai; Sandeep Khosla, CEO, Publishing Infomedia18; Seiji Hamanishi, the Assistant Director, ICP division, Canon India and Raghu Rai declare SL Shanthkumar as the Canon-Better Photography Photographer of the Year 2011.
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- Seiji Hamanishi, the Assistant Director, ICP division, Canon India shows off the grand prize, the Canon EOS 7D
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- Editor, Better Photography, K Madhavan Pillai; Sandeep Khosla, CEO, Publishing Infomedia18; Seiji Hamanishi, the Assistant Director, ICP division, Canon India and Raghu Rai declare SL Shanthkumar as the Canon-Better Photography Photographer of the Year 2011.
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- A humble S L Shanthkumar after being awarded the title of Photographer of the Year 2011
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- The audience cheer as the winner of Photographer of the Year 2011 is announced
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- S L Shanthkumar moments before the Photographer of the Year 2011 is announced.
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- Host for the evening, Sumiit Lakhutia, interacts with the audience and discusses what the spirit of Mumbai means to them.
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- A second painting by Vilas Nayak on the Spirit of Mumbai
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- Nilesh Bhange accepts the award for the category Still Life: Obvious Things from photographer Ian Pereira and Girish Mistry, founder and dean of Shaari Academy
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- Baiju Patil won an award for the category Wildlife: Animal Behaviour. He is seen here standing with wildlife photographer and conservationist Kedar Bhide; Jayesh Mehta, President of AIPTIA and Adhik Shirodkar, Senior Advocate and wildlife photographer.
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- Indraneil Mukherjee, photographer for AFP; Mukesh Parpiani, curator for Piramal Art Gallery and J P Soni award Sudipto Das for the category Life on the Streets.
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- Nirvair Singh accepts the award for the category Portraiture: I, Me, Myself from Swapan Parekh, Mark Mendes and Ashok Salian
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- Photographers Swapan Parekh and Ashok Salian walk up on stage to announce the Portraiture: I, Me, Myself theme winner.
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- Landscape: Play of Light category winner Neelima Vallangi accepts her award from photographers Hari Mahidar, Soumitra Pendse and P V N Murthi, former President of AIPTIA.
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- Gokul Mudambile, winner of the Reflections category accepts his award from photographer Amit Ashar, Jagdish Agarwal, Founder of Dinodia, India’s first stock agency; Jai Kumar Pillai, Manager Marketing, ICP, Canon India.
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- Reflections theme winner, Gokul Mudmabile walks on stage to accept his award.
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- S L Shanthkumar with Swapan Mukherjee, Amrita Ganguly-Salian and Dhiraj Kacker, CEO and co-founder of Canvera
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- “Photoseries: Song of the Road”, theme winner Vinit Gupta during the Photographer of the Year awards night.
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- The completed portrait of Dev Anand painted by artist Vilas Nayak
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- In a enthralling performance, Vilas Nayak paints the legendary Dev Anand for the audience.
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