From imagination to imagery
From moments to priceless memories.
From a latent spark to an active fire of never ending passion.
Pep Asia 2017 gave the photography community a platform worth a lifetime.
The first ever prestigious Photography conference from 21st to the 23rd of April in Mumbai, completes on an overwhelming note filled with inspirations, passion, joy and tears creating history.
The four day conference welcomed more than 300 aspirants and established photographers coming together from across countries to learn the art of photography from more than 30 international award winning photography masters of the world. The conference touched the marks of excellence going further beyond an experience into developing a stronger community of photographers committed to the cause of storytelling through photography and bound together by the name - PEP ASIA. From Pulitzer winner and veteran photographer Brian Smith to WPPI Grandmaster Jerry Ghionis to Fear Less Photographer Siva Haran to Indian gem Photographers Joseph Radhik, Auditya Venkatesh, Anup J Kat, Vishal Punjabi and many more, the conference brought the global masters on a single stage taking the aspirants through the Art Business & Craft (ABC) of Photography.
The event had an array of interesting activities lined up, leaving the newbies in awe and established photographers with a chance to enhance their skill set.
The journey began with a moving session by Jesh De Rox who taught the power of true emotion in making portraits followed by Pulitzer Prize winner Brian Smith’s and World’s top Wedding photographer Jerry Ghionis. While Brian recreated his Photographic moments, Jerry unveiled the style of capturing the perfect emotion in a picture. The first day also witnessed a special rapid Peecha Kuccha session by Joseph, Melissa (Jerry’s wife) and Auditya Venkatesh enlightening the audience with the intricacies of photography. The second day was led by the Business of photography with speakers like Entrepreneur Joshua Karthik (Founder of Stories by Joseph Radhik), Media Specialist Patrick Colpron, Canadian #South Asian Wedding Photographer Siva Haran and many more.
Standing true to the motto of “Stronger Together”, the third day brought down photographers from different walks such as Indian Wedding photographers Vishal Punjabi from ‘The Wedding Filmer‘, Anup J Kat from ‘Sharks & Brides’, Adobe master Abhishek Mukherjee, ‘Stay Hungry Stay Foolish ‘Author Rashmi Bansal, MyWed.com's international Photographer of the Year Mauricio Arias accentuating the significance of human emotions in a photograph and sharing their style and craft with the aspirants. The last day summed up the entire experience build at PEP ASIA with intensive workshops from the masters to help the aspirants hone their art at the hands of their heroes.
The conference ended on an exciting note for the aspirants with a reveal of the PEP ASIA 2018 Calendar and the announcement of an association with Rang De (an NGO) with the PEP Community pledging to spread stories in the world of the under privileged through their photographs.
Sharing their thoughts on the success of the mega event,
IPA 2015 First Place Awardee & Co-Founder, Joseph Radhik comments,
“PEP Asia 2017 as an event and an experience far exceeded our expectations. We sought out to put together India's first photography conference but have ended up creating a strong community of India's finest portrait and wedding photographers. These 4 days of learning and bonding have brought together the very best of creative across this genre, who are now committed to the cause of great photography and storytelling. We have a lot planned for PEP Asia in the future. And we are more than happy for the response that we have received.”
Co-Founder at Stories by Joseph Radhik, Joshua Karthik shares,
“It’s a heartwarming start, with an incredible success story so far. The responses has been tremendous in terms of the participation. People have come from every corner of the world, be it Qatar, Singapore, Canada, Australia, Nepal, Sri lanka Bangladesh and South East Asia. We had participants who flew as far as from USA & Hong Kong, just for this conference. From the participation point of view it was a humbling experience and in terms of the responses the audience response and reaction to the content and the emotive power of what the speakers have delivered. It showed tremendous applause. According to me, this is a new start for the Indian wedding photography community and it’s not just going to pull us closer together but also propel us forward. “
FEAR LESS Photographer, Siva Haran quotes,
“I think it’s a wonderful event. It’s a really great initiative and I have to give kudos to the team for pulling off such a homegrown but also large scale event. So great job!”
MyWed.com's international Photographer of the Year to India, Mauricio Arias quote,
“Honestly I have learned so much and this is great for me. I still am learning and that is what it’s all about. The team have pulled it off, they are educating and elevating everybody. What they are doing which is really important, they have accomplished something a lot of people are trying and they should keep doing this. This is going to blow out bigger soon.”
COO at PEP Inc., Arjun Rajan quotes,
This conference has really transformed the photography industry and unprecedented. The overwhelming response has been encouraging and positive. We’ve laughed together, we’ve cried together. This is the start of a great community initiative for the photography industry as a whole and the feedback we’ve received from everyone right from our partners to the participants is that this is the beginning of something great and we are just at the start of our journey and we hope that the kind of support that we received her continues and we make this industry grow forward together. “
The three day conference, PEP ASIA 2017, indeed brought the best in the business to create another generation of the best, for the fraternity.