CNP Meet 2016 - Dandeli - What to say and what not to say ? Its been a whole long confrontation of me and my mind on what to write and what not to about this event. Anything i can write is far less than what the photographers themself experienced. Its been a whole 5yrs since the previous CNP meet happened in foothills of Kodachadri. This time around have to give all credit to the efforts of Dinesh, Raviprakash and Vikas who led the initiative from the beginning of planning, co-ordinating and even executing the whole meet to perfection.
The event kicked off with the organisers and the CNP moderators along with few handful of CNP’ians reaching Dandeli a day before the planned start date of the meet. It was a long drive for many of us who had decided to bear the summer heat and take a chance driving in mid noon. The evening was spent relaxing at the property of Umesh - Hornbill Resorts which was the home for the meet over the next 3 days. Few decided to take rest and few pulled out the camera and headed to the riverside to warm up their creativity.
Day01 officially began with few catching up the early birds in front of the rising sun near the river banks while the other few started organising the fine art prints brought by the photographers and the numerous books on photography, creativity, coffee table books, portfolio books etc. Once the breakfast was had and people had the glimpse of the books, people just refrained from moving anywhere to but sit down with a book in their hands. As the day inched towards noon more and more photographers joined the group at the resort and the event formally kicked off with a introductory note by Dinesh and Ganesh followed by a short glimpse of event video from the 2011 meet. The icebreaker ended with the photographers distributed into 5 groups who were then responsible to come up with opinions and suggestions on various topics which were scheduled for day02.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPu7oMeDJMkIn the evening when the folks who had gone to the near by bridge to catch a glimpse of the hornbills flying across the Kali river reached back to the resort, Vijay Mohan Raj or VMR as we address him was ready with his presentation on “Context setting for Creative Nature Photography” and how we can take things forward from what we are right now. Dinner and drinks ended the day on a very high note.
Day02 started with plan in place for numerous presentations and workshops. Rajkumar gave a wonderful session on Black and White photography and processing with a backup from his darkroom experience followed by Saurab's session on 360 degree images and finally Ramesh Adkoli’s eye opener Infrared Photography session. Lunch was an opportunity for the groups to sit down together and come up with their thoughts and presentations on what next in Creative photography and also their suggestions for improvements on CNP website. This group discussion was an eye opener with regard to so many new aspects being discussed. This time the CNP meet was not about long lenses or higher megapixel cameras. There were IR filters, IR converted cameras, Mirror lens, drones, titl-shift lens, lens baby, RC vehicle with cameras and much more to be explored and experienced. Ganesh had even carried his possession of his slides and a loop viewer which the participants were floored by what they saw compared to their digital files. The day ended with a presentation by Sriharsha Ganjam about the unseen wonder of Astro photography and his journey in exploring the same.
Day03 was a windup for few and long way ahead for some. While some decided to spend the first couple of hours of the day in getting few memorable frames from the event while others continued to spend time engrossed in the 100s of books available for consumption.
One of the highlight of the event was definitely the floating red flowers on the riverbanks which everyone got to see and capture in their own creative way and not to sideline the numerous lizards and dracos which kept most photographers on their toes. Though few managed to get a glimpse of hornbills, sea eagle, giant squirrel and flying squirrel in and around the dining area - few managed to take the road less traveled to come up with their own images and some event spending night out at the backwater learning and shooting astro photography.
People bid good bye and started towards their destination but there was a sense of joy and learning and feeling good in each and every photographers face. For some it was meeting each other or seeing photographers for first time and all that they remembered was the userid on the forum. People had traveled from all across the country and it indeed was one big successful meetup. The folks had their mind refreshed with new thoughts and perception on creativity and more so with loads of learning from fellow photographers.
There are lot of images shot during the event both of the photographers and by the photographers which one can view in the links shared below and also visit the forums for the summary of the “What next in CNP” group discussion. Please do share your images in the corresponding galleries.
You can download the high resolution version of the group photo if you wish to print it and keep it as a memorabilia using the below link.
CNP Meet 2016 - Group PhotoWishing you good light and until next meet - keep clicking and making images.
PS : Thanks to Krish for loaning me his camera to get the images above.