Wekh Lahore: Second edition of photo competition next month

The organisers are expecting over 600 submissions this year.

LAHORE: The Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) and the Photographic Society of Pakistan (PSOP) on Thursday announced plans for the second season of the Wekh Lahore Photography Competition in January.

The initiative has been taken to promote photography and the history and culture of the city worldwide. PSOP international coordinator Muhammad Saeed told The Express Tribune that it was saddening to observe that people were not acquainted with the nation’s beauty. He said the competition was a good way of promoting Pakistan’s softer side.



The competition is open to all amateur photographers aged 18 years or older. The photographs will be classified in three categories. The first category would be composed of photographs of street life from any location in the Walled City. The second category would comprise photos of architecture peculiar to the area and the third category would include photos of select monuments in the Walled City. These include the Shahi Hammam, the Wazir Khan Mosque, the Surili Mosque, the Maryam Zamani Mosque, the Hazoori Bagh and the Lahore Fort.

The photographs can be electronically submitted to the society. The WCLA holds several photo walks in the area and the PSOP organises photography training exercises in the countdown to the competition. The society and the authority have been planning to hold another photo walk to the Fort soon. Those interested in participation can reach out to the authority’s guides in the area who would be happy to assist them.

Some of the work of the professional photographers judging the forthcoming competition would be displayed during the five-day event.

The submissions received for this year’s competition would also be exhibited at the event. The photographs would be judged according to technical merit and the narrative depicted.

The Walled City is the living embodiment of the city’s virsa. The buildings and the monuments in the area stand as testaments to changing political winds and footprints.

The competition has been conceived to project and promote this eclectic legacy.

Four hundred entries were submitted for last year’s competition and the organisers are expecting to receive over 600 submissions this time around. The dates of the competition would be formally announced in a ceremony scheduled to be held on December 24 at the fort.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2014.