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VOL. 27, NO. 44, July18 , 2008 (Shrawan 03 2065 B.S.)
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DIGITAL PHOTO CONTEST
Majestic Mountain
Organized by International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), digital photo contest lured many photographers
By A CORRESPONDENT
Covered by beautiful mountains and Himalayas, the Hindkush region, which expands from east in Bhutan and China to west in Pakistan, is a home to world’s renowned majestic mountains and hills. Along with the mountain, lakes and glaciers, it also consists of diverse presence of ethnicity, culture, religion and life.
As the temperature of earth is rising, the mountain regions are under the threat of losing their natural existence. The big lakes and glaciers, which are perennial sources of fresh water, are under the constant threat of outburst.
Unstable nature of mountain is also creating the trouble threatening the nature as well as life of the people living in the Hindukush region.
What one sees in the region today may not be there for people to see tomorrow since the region’s nature is changing rapidly. The only way to recollect the past will be the memory that can be saved by photos.
This is what the global digital photo contest intended to do. The activities and nature of the Hindkush region always attracts a large number of professional and amateur photographers.
Organized by ICIMOD, the Mountain and People Global Digital Photo Contest was held last week at the office of ICIMOD. It attracted photographs taken by various photographers in various periods of time.
According to an ICIMOD press release, various photographers from different parts of the world won the award. The press release says that ICIMOD Hindu Kush Himalayan Prize was awarded to Prem Hang Banem. Special mention awards went to Rajesh Sharma and Rabindra Roy.
Selected by three member judge Kishore Kayastha, Raju Bhandari and Pradip Shakya, there were various awards for other participants also. Other contestants who received the Top 60 Mentions were Anup Gatraj, Nabin Baral, Susheel Shrestha, Pradeep Sitaula, John Gautam, Rajesh Sharma, Bimal Chandra Sharma, Radha D. Gurung, Kiran Pandey and Ashwin Dhakal.
“There is a need to use photos as a visual tool for outreach as well as to sensitize the public about the changing mountain world, especially in the context of climate change and globalization,” said Dr. Andreas Schild, director general of ICIMOD.
Organized to celebrate ICIMOD’s silver jubilee- which falls in December 2008- the photos sent for participation in the competition show beautiful scenes, rivers, mountains, lakes and various forms of livelihood.
As there was a wide level of participants from various photographs, the organizers have reasons to be optimistic. “This year’s photo contests received some 1102 entries from 336 contestants representing 65 countries around the world,” said Ujol Sherchan, senior program officer, Mountain Forum Secretariat as well as coordinator of the Global Digital Photo Contest 2008.
The participation by such a large number of photographers from all over the world shows that the high mountains, green pastures, rivers, lakes and glaciers remain the center of attraction for creative minds
