‘Wekh Lahore’ contest gets huge response

LAHORE

Citizens especially youths and amature photographers thronged the Wekh Lahore photo contest and exhibition at Alhamra Art Gallery organised by Walled city of Lahore Authority (WCLA) here Monday.

This was the third season of this event, which has now become a permanent feature of the WCLA’s yearly activities. The event was inaugurated by the Director General WCLA Kamran Lashari and the Vice-Chancellor of Lahore Garrison University.

Officials said there were 1,389 entries for the contest and exhibition out of which 453 were displayed at the Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore. The event was attended by more than 500 people. There were three categories in the contest monuments, architecture and the street life of walled city of Lahore.

The first three winners in each category were awarded Rs100,000, Rs75,000 and Rs50,000 along with expensive gifts like microwave ovens and refrigerators provided by various sponsors. The overall best 50 shots were awarded with gift hampers. The photos were invited from the hobbyist and amature photographers from all over Pakistan.

Kamran Lashari while talking to the media said that this had become a yearly event of the Walled City of Lahore Authority and aimed to create photo tourism and promote the walled city through photographs. “This is one way of digitising our heritage and intangible culture of the walled city of Lahore. I believe that youth are the best resource for gathering the photographs and social media the best tool for promoting it. We will also be printing a coffee table book of these photographs later on,” he said.

Asif Zaheer, Director Marketing, WCLA said this was an amazing event and we were not expecting this much overwhelming response from the public; 453 photographs were displayed at the Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore, we hope to beat our records in future. Tania Qureshi Deputy Director Media & Marketing WCLA added that every year there was more response to this event. We hope to have a grander event next year and that too in Lahore Fort.

Nadeem Dar Judge Wekh Lahore photo contest and exhibition said that it was a pleasure to be the judge of the event and it was no doubt a hard task for all of us to judge the photographs. The photographers have done a great job. I am also glad to see the number of photographers involved in this activity, it is a positive thing and this is the only way to promote our heritage and culture. Another judge of the contest Arshad Ghori said he had informed all the young photographers to work more hard for the next event. This is amazing that a government department is holding such lively events and giving cash prizes on the spot. This is a great initiative taken by the Walled City of Lahore Authority, he maintained.