Winner Announcement
The ‘MAHARASHTRA KALEIDOSCOPE PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST 2015’ is an annual photography contest dedicated to photographs taken in our beautiful and vibrant state of Maharashtra! The contest is being organized by The Western Routes.
We announced the contest in mid-September and officially closed the entries on 1 December 2015. We received tremendous response of an average of 150 photographs in each category. These categories were - Nature & Wildlife, Landscapes, Built Heritage and People & Culture.
We appointed a jury to judge the best photographs in each category. We had Bhavpreet Ghai, HOD Photography of FX School, Mumbai and a professional photographer judging the 'People & Culture' category, Aditya Padhye, a Pune based wildlife photographer and film-maker judging the Nature & Wildlife and Landscapes categories and finally Peeyush Sekhsaria, an architect and photographer judging the ‘Built Heritage’ category. (More about the judges and their work at the end of the post!)
We proudly present our winners for 2015!
NATURE & WILDLIFE
LANDSCAPES
BUILT HERITAGE
PEOPLE & CULTURE
THE JURY
From Left to Right - Bhavpreet Ghai, Aditya Padhye and Peeyush Sekhsaria |
PEOPLE & CULTURE
BHAVPREET GHAI
Bhavpreet Ghai has spent more than 12 years in the front-line trenches with her camera, working on several successful projects across fashion, portraits and documentaries, all around the world from Mumbai to Melbourne. It was the artisan lanes and bohemian walls of Melbourne that reinvigorated Bhavpreet’s insatiable passion for photography, and she ultimately found a firm sense of belonging in a full-time career as a photographer. As a commercial photographer, Bhavpreet splits her time between travelling far and wide on photography expeditions, and working in Mumbai where she also happens to be Department Head of Photography at FX School. Her work can be viewed at www.bhavpreetghai.com | www.facebook.com/BhavpreetGhai
NATURE & WILDLIFE | LANDSCAPES
ADITYA PADHYE
According to Aditya Padhye, he is a self-taught wildlife and nature photographer. Most of his free time is spent in front of big furry (striped or spotted) cats and various colorful birds, shooting their antics. His ideal way to spend time is in his favorite space in the world, which happens to be a jungle somewhere with his camera in hand. He has recently ventured into the interesting and vast field of film-making and some of his upcoming works include some short films! His work can be seen at www.adityapadhye.com
BUILT HERITAGE
PEEYUSH SEKHSARIA
Peeyush Sekhsaria is an architect and geographer by training. An occasional photographer, his assignments include photographing the barefoot women architects of Niger, woodless construction in Burkina Faso and traditional fishing communities along the Indian coast. His has exhibited at the NCPA Mumbai, in France, Portugal, Colombia and Brazil. The book, ‘The Kailas at Ellora - A new view of a misunderstood masterwork’, which he photographed for was recently published. His work can be seen on www.peeyushsekhsaria.com
ABOUT THE WESTERN ROUTES
The Western Routes is a Pune based responsible travel company dedicated to providing travelers with unique tour experiences in beautiful and unexplored corners of Maharashtra. The state has a brilliant mix of high mountains, the refreshing sea and the lush green covers; interspersed with rich heritage, an ancient and lively culture, varied cuisine, royal history, and warm people! We plan long and short travel itineraries within Maharashtra.
Every season we have scheduled various day or weekend trips which are open for all. Every month we also have free or self funded trips or excursions which are typically half day. Our other trips include customized educational and study trips, corporate and group tours, culture, heritage and food walks in Pune and travel events!
More details on www.thewesternroutes.com
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