The Genesis of Fototechnik Webinars

It was COVID 19 the mutating virus that compelled us to mutate our systems. Under the Lockdown we decided to celebrate the ‘World Photography Day’ in a different way. It was through a Webinar on the History of Photography.

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About the Webinar ‘History of Photography’

The School of Fototechnik, New Delhi, celebrates the ‘World Photography Day’ every year since its inception in 1998. It is normally celebrated through Annual Award Ceremony, Lecture Programs, Exhibitions, and in the year 2008 the institute organized a unique program - “March for Photography”. We walked the streets of Delhi to create awareness about ‘World Photography Day’ and popularize the large ambit of photography to the masses. In the year 2020, the entire world being under the COVID 19 situation we decided to celebrate the World Photography Day through a webinar on the ‘History of Photography’. Being a webinar we decided to take it one step ahead by making it an international event of the institute. We had the PSA President as one of the panelists, with several PSA Board Members as special guests. Among the attendees we had most importantly the Secretary General of FIAP and others from UK, Italy, Switzerland, Ghana, Nigeria, several PSA volunteers and PSA members from India, students and alumni of the institute and others. It was attended by 87 people. The PSA President and all the other Board Members unanimously appreciated the presentation and made very high comments. All other attendees also applauded the presentation.

Mr Tirtha Dasgupta, Founder and Director of the School of Fototechnik, at the onset spoke about the importance of the ‘World Photography Day’, its relevance to be celebrated on the 19th of August, and how it all started from India. Over the years it has spread worldwide. In the concluding remarks of the PSA President, she requested for a copy of the program as she desires to have the presentation in the form of a PSA Webinar and make it available in the PSA website for all members and Camera Clubs to benefit.

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A Blessing in Disguise

COVID 19 was a blessing in disguise for the School of Fototechnik. With the GRAND SUCCESS of the Webinar on the History of Photography, the idea of organizing Monthly International Webinars was born. As a test run we had the first webinar on 17th November 2020. The presentation was done by Agatha Anne Bunanta, International Relationships Vice President of PSA on “Indonesia Beauty in Frame”. This event was also a grand success. Thereafter we decided to launch the Monthly International Webinars from January 2021. Since then we are organizing the webinars every month. These webinars have proved to be very educative and entertaining. These webinars are open for anyone interested and the participation is free.

Our Guest Speakers are from different parts of the globe and the attendees are also from different countries. The topics covered in these webinars are of different genres of photography, some on different technical aspects and there are a multitude of subjects.