It was pretty hectic the last two days. People have been streaming in through the day. Lots of friends (and lots who promised didn’t turn up, but that is always expected!). Some nice surprises, people who came in through this blog and Bangalore Metblogs also.

The Slimes refused to feature us, and we didn’t get a mention even in their events listings 🙂 We did get some coverage in the Deccan, Bangalore Mirror, The Hindu and the Express the day prior. But most of the publicity was through online forums, blogs and personal invites to friends/family. So thank god for the Internet!

I have to thank the BWS group for coming out and supporting us. They were wonderful and especially Peevee, Sreelesh, Akshath, Prasoon, Srividya and the rest of the gang : Soumya, Lavanya, greeshma, Yogesh, Danny, Kushal (I’m sure I’m missing some names but the whole gang who came!). Some of them were there not just for the exhibition but also for the talks on Sat and Sun. It really meant a lot to all of us!

Thanks a lot to Sabir, Sue, Mala, Charles and Debbie, Mahesh & Vidya, Kaushal Kharkhanis with his friends, Prashant M.

Then there was Rajesh & Preeti, Antara & Souvik, Deepa, Amogh, Pavitra, Anush, Ravi & Smitha, Shyamala and her mom, Swapna, Sajith, Tanay, MeninWeb, Oomz, Thej and his friends, Manasa, Ravi from RKblogs, Kirti and Bibi!

Thanks especially to Srilatha, Aqua, Geetha, Mekhla, my sister who all not only came to encourage us but also picked up pictures to support the cause!

We had to cancel the Sat talk as Anand Sharan was unwell, but we had an informal Q&A session, which turned out to be quite interesting. On Sunday morning (when we were wondering if anyone would turn up at that time of the day) we got a decent crowd of enthusiasts. Dr Manoj Sindagi shared some really great tips from his experience of over 10 years as a wildlife photographer. Kalyan Varma happened to be there at the opportune moment and shared some of his insights also. I think everyone gained a lot through this interaction.

Even though we weren’t expecting too much of a crowd on Sunday, there was a steady stream of people through the day, keeping us busy and on our feet. I think we managed to sell about 20% of the displays by the end of it, which was quite encouraging for us. We’re planning to put it all up online in a few days and hope to continue the sales for anyone who’s interested.

Jace, thank a lot! This is a special mention especially since you weren’t too well but still came in. I had a lot of folks saying later they fell sick over the weekend (and it’s funny how that happens :-). And a big thanks to Sathish K, the hunks Changumani and Bops, Bipin Gupta with his wife, Pushpalee and her hubby, Debanjan Dasgupta, Rashmi(two of them!) and Mrinal, Nita and Mekhla, Bijoy and his lovely wife Anitha, former Metblogger Chitra with her hubby and kids, Shezaye, Vishakha and Manjiri, Zeeshan and his charming wife Farzana. Gosh, this sounds like an Oscar speech. But I just feel that I need to say a special thank you to everyone : it was my first exhibition on this scale and I needed all the support and good wishes.

Over a month of efforts, and it was nice to see it all come to fruit. It’s been a huge learning experience too. And sometime quite frustrating too. Roadblocks, problems, things not turning out like it was supposed to (like the catering not arriving on time!)… but I think the positives overrode it all!

– The Wide Angle Album
– Inauguration photos from Shankar