Mangalore: Daijiworld to Host Kukkaje's Photo Exhibition on Aug 19

Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (VA)

Mangalore, Aug 5: Daijiworld.com is on the threshold of decennial year and in order to commemorate this, a series of programmes and events have been planned.

As a part of this, an ‘Exhibition of photographs’ of its own photographer Dayanand Kukkaje will be held in the premises of St Aloysius College on August 19 and 20. The Department of Mass Communication, St Aloysius College and Radio SARANG 107.8FM are the co-organizers.

“Photography being part of learning, an exhibition and understanding of photographs of a prominent artist like Dayanand Kukkaje goes a long way in students appreciating photography as an art, science and education. Thereby, the department promotes such first-hand and interactive learning”, says Dr Richard Rego, director Radio SARANG 107.8FM, head & associate professor MCMS, department of Mass Communication, St Aloysius College.

The exhibition will be aptly inaugurated  by Sudhir Shetty, COO, UAE Exchange, Abu Dhabi on August 19 as it is the ‘World Photography Day'. Fr Sweebert D'Silva, Principal, St Aloysius College will be the guest of honour during the occasion. The exhibition will be open for the view of students and general public for two days.

The exhibition will include seminars and interaction session with renowned photo-journalists of Dakshina Kannada, Astro Mohan of Udayavani, Ravi Posavanike of Times of India, and veteran photojournalist Yajna who will impart their knowledge on the subject and share experiences in the field.

Genius Photography Talent - Dayanand Kukkaje

Ace Photographer Dayanand Kukkaje has won several state and national awards in appreciation of his precision and creativity. He hails from Kukkaje near Manila in Bantwal taluk and the lone son of writer M K Kukkaje and Umavathi. He pursued his school education in his native place itself, but due to the negligence act of the secondary education board he could not continue his education. Though he answered his SSLC examination in 1999, his results came after over two years in 2002.

When he did not receive his results on time Kukkaje joined a hotel at Mangalore and worked there for few days. Unhappy with the kind of work, he quit and later joined the team of Jagath arts where he got ample opportunities to express his childhood dream of creating beautiful paintings, statues and decorative. He traveled widely across the nation with Jagath team and gained good experience in fine arts.

In the later years Kukkaje turned into a photo-journalist starting his work with ‘Sanjevani’ Kannada newspaper and later made his entry into the largest web-portal – Daijiworld. Without any professional training, Kukkaje gradually excelled in the field of photography with his extraordinary skills and now popular world over.

Dayanand Kukkaje can be contacted at dayakukkaje@gmail.com

Multi-faceted Thy Name – Astro Mohan

Astro Mohan, a renowned press-photographer, accredited phojournalist, magician, palmist, a prudent programme organizer an astrologer, orator, artiste and art critic, - sounds incredible, yet a rare blend of all virtues, a synonym of sheer efforts.

Nicknamed as Astro, K H Mohan, a prodigy and genius, joined Udayavani, a famous National Kannada Daily published from Manipal, in the year 1993. His deep academic interest in astrology earned him a prefix to his name astro.

He hails from Bellary, and had his early education in a small village known as Cheekanahalli in Hassan District, high school education in Belgaum and degree education in Arts in Canara College, Mangalore. Excelling in almost all the genres of photography, Astro Mohan is a name to reckon with, in the world of photography. His photographs have not only been admired in India, but have gained world recognition and are widely acclaimed in USA, Singapore, Malaysia, and UAE. This gifted photographer is a consultant for the photography and digital imaging industry and also actively takes part in many photographic workshops and seminars in India.

Recently Astro won the first place in national level photo competition organized by Indus pride Bangalore. The rare photographs, which Astro shot on the lifestyle of Dr Shivaram Karnath, Jnanpith awardee Kannada litterateur, have been considered a landmark, which brought name and fame to Mohan as an artistic photographer of vivid interest.

When Gujarat experienced the trauma of the century, the earthquake, which caused huge loss of life and property ever heard of in the history of the nation, Mohan dared to visit the quake-hit areas and captured the heart throbbing scenes in his camera. The daredevil photos taken by Mohan were exhibited in the Banquet hall in Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore.

Outstanding Hand in Photo-journalism - Ravi Posavanike

Ravi Posavanike is a senior photographer with The Times of India, Mangalore. He hails from Beernakaje at Kolthige village, Puttur taluk. He pursued his education from Perlampady Higher Primary School, Shanmukha Deva High School, Perlampady and St Aloysius College Mangalore.

Posavanike secured 6th rank in M A (Mass Communication and Journalism) from Karnataka State Open University, Mysore. He has an experience of 18 years in photography.

He has conducted several seminars and workshops on photography in and around the city. His exhibition “Varsha Vaibhava” on rain was a unique collection. He used to contribute to the column ‘Familiar Stranger’ in The Times of India.

He recently won the first place in Canon photography contest for Photo-journalists of Karnataka. He has secured third place in ‘Karnataka tourism’ Contest organized by state tourism department. He was also awarded by Mangalore Jaycees as ‘Outstanding Young Person’.

Veteran and a Role Model - Yajna

Yajneshwara Acharya, well known as ‘Yajna’ was born in 1948. He studied till SSLC at Ganapathy High School, Mangalore. His interest in painting made him join the BGM School of Fine Arts. Later he switched to photography.

He borrowed money from friends to buy his first camera and started his career as a photographer. Inspired by Yajna’s photos Ishwar Daithota of Udayavani, leading Coastal Karnataka Kannada news paper requested him to work as a freelancer. From then on he never looked back. There was a picture column by him on every Mondays where he focused on general issues.

His creative and artistic pictures attracted many. Yajna had the opportunity to take pictures of Pope John Paul during his visit to Mangalore. He has to his credit of taking pictures of many high profile politicians, great writers, actors, cricketers and the like. He also has the distinction of having covered three Mahamaskabhishekas at Shravanabelgola which is held once in twelve years.