~ The first ever
prestigious photography conference took place from 21st to the 24th of April in
Mumbai ~
From imagination to
imagery
From moments to priceless
memories.
From a latent spark to an
active fire of never ending passion.
Pep Asia 2017 gave the
photography community a platform worth a lifetime.
The first ever
prestigious Photography conference from 21st to the 23rd of April in Mumbai,
completes on an overwhelming note filled with inspirations, passion, joy and
tears creating history.
The four day conference
welcomed more than 300 aspirants and established photographers coming together
from across countries to learn the art of photography from more than 30
international award winning photography masters of the world. The conference
touched the marks of excellence going further beyond an experience into
developing a stronger community of photographers committed to the cause of
storytelling through photography and bound together by the name - PEP ASIA.
From Pulitzer winner and veteran photographer Brian Smith to WPPI Grandmaster
Jerry Ghionis to Fear Less Photographer Siva Haran to Indian gem Photographers
Joseph Radhik, Auditya Venkatesh, Anup J Kat, Vishal Punjabi and many more, the
conference brought the global masters on a single stage taking the aspirants
through the Art Business & Craft (ABC) of Photography.
The event had an array of
interesting activities lined up, leaving the newbies in awe and established
photographers with a chance to enhance their skill set.
The journey began with a
moving session by Jesh De Rox who taught the power of true emotion in making
portraits followed by Pulitzer Prize winner Brian Smith’s and World’s top
Wedding photographer Jerry Ghionis. While Brian recreated his Photographic
moments, Jerry unveiled the style of capturing the perfect emotion in a
picture. The first day also witnessed a special rapid Peecha Kuccha session by
Joseph, Melissa (Jerry’s wife) and Auditya Venkatesh enlightening the audience
with the intricacies of photography. The second day was led by the Business of
photography with speakers like Entrepreneur Joshua Karthik (Founder of Stories
by Joseph Radhik), Media Specialist Patrick Colpron, Canadian #South Asian
Wedding Photographer Siva Haran and many more.
Standing true to the
motto of “Stronger Together”, the third day brought down photographers from
different walks such as Indian Wedding photographers Vishal Punjabi from ‘The
Wedding Filmer‘, Anup J Kat from ‘Sharks & Brides’, Adobe master Abhishek
Mukherjee, ‘Stay Hungry Stay Foolish ‘Author Rashmi Bansal, MyWed.com's
international Photographer of the Year Mauricio Arias accentuating the
significance of human emotions in a photograph and sharing their style and
craft with the aspirants. The last day summed up the entire experience build at
PEP ASIA with intensive workshops from the masters to help the aspirants hone
their art at the hands of their heroes.
The conference ended on
an exciting note for the aspirants with a reveal of the PEP ASIA 2018 Calendar
and the announcement of an association with Rang De (an NGO) with the PEP
Community pledging to spread stories in the world of the under privileged
through their photographs.
Sharing their thoughts on
the success of the mega event,
IPA 2015 First Place
Awardee & Co-Founder, Joseph Radhik comments,
“PEP Asia 2017 as an
event and an experience far exceeded our expectations. We sought out to put
together India's first photography conference but have ended up creating a
strong community of India's finest portrait and wedding photographers. These 4
days of learning and bonding have brought together the very best of creative
across this genre, who are now committed to the cause of great photography and
storytelling. We have a lot planned for PEP Asia in the future. And we are more
than happy for the response that we have received.”
Co-Founder at Stories by
Joseph Radhik, Joshua Karthik shares,
“It’s a heartwarming
start, with an incredible success story so far. The responses has been
tremendous in terms of the participation. People have come from every corner of
the world, be it Qatar, Singapore, Canada, Australia, Nepal, Sri lanka
Bangladesh and South East Asia. We had participants who flew as far as from USA
& Hong Kong, just for this conference. From the participation point of view
it was a humbling experience and in terms of the responses the audience
response and reaction to the content and the emotive power of what the speakers
have delivered. It showed tremendous applause. According to me, this is a new
start for the Indian wedding photography community and it’s not just going to
pull us closer together but also propel us forward. “
FEAR LESS Photographer,
Siva Haran quotes,
“I think it’s a wonderful
event. It’s a really great initiative and I have to give kudos to the team for
pulling off such a homegrown but also large scale event. So great job!”
MyWed.com's international
Photographer of the Year to India, Mauricio Arias quote,
“Honestly I have learned
so much and this is great for me. I still am learning and that is what it’s all
about. The team have pulled it off, they are educating and elevating
everybody. What they are doing which is
really important, they have accomplished something a lot of people are trying
and they should keep doing this. This is going to blow out bigger soon.”
COO at PEP Inc., Arjun
Rajan quotes,
This conference has
really transformed the photography industry and unprecedented. The overwhelming
response has been encouraging and positive. We’ve laughed together, we’ve cried
together. This is the start of a great community initiative for the photography
industry as a whole and the feedback we’ve received from everyone right from
our partners to the participants is that this is the beginning of something
great and we are just at the start of our journey and we hope that the kind of
support that we received her continues and we make this industry grow forward
together."
The three day conference,
PEP ASIA 2017, indeed brought the best in the business to create another
generation of the best, for the fraternity.
