Photography show explores beauty of Walled City

LAHORE: Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall, was a happening place on Monday where a four-day pulsating exhibition of photographs titled ‘Wekh Lahore’ was held, featuring some foremost themes such as street life, architecture and monuments.

The exhibition, a yearly feature of Lahore’s cultural calendar, was organized by the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA), in collaboration with the Photographic Society of Pakistan, Lahore Photography Club and Lahore Arts Council.

This camera happy show was not only an exhibition but also a competition among photographers in various categories. The show had a good amalgamation of performing arts as two vocalists and one instrumentalist also performed on the occasion.

Singer Jawad Ahmed and folk singer Saien Muhammad Ali also performed on the occasion.

The exhibition was inaugurated by WCLA Director General Kamran Lashari along with other notables of the city. An award ceremony was also part of the event that was detached from the exhibition venue in Alhamra Hall-3. The hall was full to capacity as the relatives and friends of winners had gathered there in a fairly good numbers.

Cash prizes were given in all the three major categories -- Street Life, Architecture and Monuments to those who stood first (Rs40,000), second (Rs30,000) and third (Rs20,000). Besides, cash prizes, the winners were also given certificates, shields and cell phones from a leading cellular company.

In the Street Life category Amna Yasin won the first prize, Hasan Ahmad bagged the second and Sher Ali got the third prize. In the Architecture category first prize was won by Junaid Ahmed, second by Abdul Rafay and third by Armughan Nishat.

In the Monuments category, first prize was bagged by Husain Mehmood, second by Sher Muhammad and third by Muhammad Ali.

Each of the 20 top photographers were given a USB drive.

WCLA spokeswoman Taniya Qureshi told the media that the authority had received 600 photograph entries, out of which the jury selected 350 photographs to be put on display. The jury comprised Azhar Hafiz, Amin Ghani, Nadeem Khawar and Razaq Vamce.

Published in Dawn January 27th, 2015