Nearly 50 photographers and TV crew all waiting, aiming with their lenses to shoot the most perfect moment at one of the most colourful and action packed event in Anantpur Sahib, Punjab, Holla Mohalla - an event that showcases the prowess of a warrior and is held every year during the festival of Holi.

Among the gathering of professionals were also few greenhorns - students from the department of Creative Photography, SAIMC who were also part of the crowd of fifty trying to capture the fast paced event replete with sword fight, horse race, indigenous martial art and lots more.

But the students were at Anantpur Sahib just not to watch the event but also there to watch one man in action - the great master of photography at work – Raghu Rai, who away from the crowd was everywhere capturing candid moments of the event, images that would tell a different tale of the Holla Mohalla.

As part of the curriculum, the students of SAIMC had an opportunity to learn from a live experience not only the art of shooting but also the virtues that is a mark of a good photographer

"I always used to be in a hurry to click and run away. But observing Raghu Sir shooting, I learnt that patience is a virtue that can do wonders to a photographer’s work" said Sagar Hirani, student of SAIMC.

The three-day trip was a rich learning experience for the students. They woke up at the crack of dawn to capture picture with in the best light and the rest of the day was devoted to shoots and the evenings were time for discussion with Mr. Raghi Rai on the nuances of photography. He would critically analyze the photographs that the students had clicked during the day and also give an opportunity to the students to view his photos – a rare gesture.

“Shooting the event was a totally different experience, "said Bharat Choudhary." Our reflexes had to be swift. We had to be so quick to adjust the aperture, shutter speed. Along with the technical part, we also learnt that we had to be disciplined to excel as a photographer” was Bharat’s learning experience.

The students returned richer by a wonderful experience ready to implement their learning in their work.  

Mr. Raghu Rai and Mr. Nitin Rai held a two-day workshop with the photography students on 5th-6th June, 2008. The objective of the workshop was to impart the students with skills and knowledge on how to sequence edit and curate their body of work. The entire exercise was to promote the ability of students to differentiate between mediocre and good work. It intended to help the students to view their own images as external objective critics, without being instinctively biased for their own work. The workshop was held a few days before the Students Annual Photography Exhibition which also led to the final selection of images for the show.

Each photographer had to present his images to the group of critics, comprising of the faculty and rest of the students. The critics shared their opinion on the images being presented and the photographers had the option of debating and defending their work. The workshop became invaluable with the guidance of Mr. Raghu Rai and Nitin Rai. They were training the students thoroughly and shared the guidelines on how to edit and curate images. The students learnt how to move beyond pictorial images and curate images for their purpose and soul. Students were able to appreciate images which displayed a thought process and stories capable of engaging their audience. They could understand how to sequence images so as to weave an impact on the viewer and how to judiciously use B/W and color images for an exhibition.

Finally the entire group was ready with a bunch of images which appeared as having a one common soul and not as an array of varied objectives. The workshop enabled the students to conclusively identify images which were finally a part of the exhibition held on 14th-18th June, 2008.