As the curtain lifted on the finest of frames from around the world at the Express Gallery in Express Towers here on Friday for an exclusive preview, the occasion doubled up as the celebration of the very best in photojournalism.Nearly 200 images were unveiled at the World Press Photo ‘07 with Union Minister for Tourism & Culture Ambika Soni, accompanied by Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, inaugurating the event. Soni, the chief guest, lauded The Indian Express for hosting WPP ‘07 and reflecting the brave and responsible face of journalism. Echoing this, Deshmukh said the three-week-long exhibition, on till January 12, shows photographs which tell news stories strongly and with impact.“Despite live TV coverage, the importance of still photographs in the media has only increased. Still photographers pick one significant moment that hours of coverage can’t,” said Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief of The Indian Express, citing the example of the image of Qutubuddin Ansari with folded hands during the Gujarat riots. “By bringing the WPP ‘07 exhibition to India, we aim to showcase the best of contemporary news photography for Indian audiences,” he added. The exhibition will have three sections — that of the annual award-winning images, a special selection of the work of Spencer Platt, the winner of the WPP Photo of the Year ‘06, and a theme exhibition about climate changes in Africa documented by African photojournalists. The exhibition, which is held in nearly 90 cities across the globe, is showcasing photos from 60 countries this year.Though the spotlight of this year’s exhibition is on Platt’s image of young Lebanese driving through a bombed Beirut neighbourhood, some of the striking images are Paris’ street dancers in action, a man at the scene of a patrol pipeline explosion in Lagos, Nigeria and a settler struggling with Israeli security officer in the West Bank. Those who want to revive the memory of Zinedine Zidane’s famous head-butt, there is an entire sequence showing his exit from the football World Cup final. Max Rossi’s photograph of World Championship Gymnastics in Denmark has a surreal touch while Damon Winter depicts a different face of Clint Eastwood.The event provided a platform for celebrating photography in more than one way. The holder of the Guinness record for possessing the maximum number of 2,635 cameras, Dilish Parekh, was at the gallery with 40 rare models. His collection has cameras dating from 1890 to 1960. Apart from this, the principal sponsor, Nokia Nseries, in association with WPP and The Express Group announced a photography competition which revolves around the concept of storytelling. There are two categories — general and media — and the aspiring participants just need to mail their entries to N82stories@expressindia.com . “The best entries will win a new powerful N82 imaging device,” said Shankar Subramanian, Director, Operator Accounts, Nokia India. The preview drew prominent personalities of the city from various fields. They included: national chief cricket selector Dilip Vengsarkar and wife Manali, MP Suresh Prabhu, convener of INTACH Tasneem Mehta, the founder of Chemould Gallery Kekoo Gandhy, photographer Rafeeq Ellias, editor of Gallerie art magazine Beena Sarkar, screenplay writer of Chak De! India Jaideep Sahni, Kiran Shantaram and Bombay Electric’s Priya Kishore.
