The APOGEE English Press sat down with Pracheta Gupta and Palash Jain, the joint coordinators of the Department of Photography (DoPy), to get a clear picture of the work done by the department for APOGEE 2025.
According to Pracheta, the two main events covered by the department are APOGEE Snaps and Batch Snaps, along with in-fest clicking, where they would be covering the different events during the fest. Palash further stated that there had been several changes since the last APOGEE. One such change was introducing first-year clickers to widen the workforce enough to cover the different events. They had also pivoted from automatic to manual settings to improve the photo quality. They also explained that DoPy conducted regular work sessions for the snaps. Pracheta further mentioned that they increased the number of work sessions from the last APOGEE to familiarise the members with the equipment and camera settings.
Palash talked about the challenges faced by the department. According to him, the Students’ Union (SU) had been trying to give away the DoPy room to other clubs and departments without consulting the SWD Dean, Mr Naveen Singh. Moreover, they had also brushed off DoPy’s attempts at reaching out. Both Palash and Pracheta expressed their disappointment at the SU for their lack of cooperativeness, given that they require the room for storage and organisation, among other tasks. They also added that DoPy was ‘the second highest revenue generating department.’
The coordinators added that they were anticipating a lack of cameras during the fest, and had not asked for an additional camera this time owing to the financial troubles the fest had gone through. When asked if the number of cameras would be enough to cover the fest, Pracheta replied in the resistance. She added that only one camera was received from the SU, and another was borrowed from the Sports Union. Palash remarked that the department was expecting at least 1.5 lakhs in revenue by the end of APOGEE, and given that 75% of their work was done, both coordinators expressed confidence that they would meet the goal comfortably.
Pracheta conveyed that her experience as a coordinator had been great, and they had good juniors and batchmates within the department who came forward and helped ensure the work went on smoothly. However, both stated that some of the CoStAAns had not been as cooperative as they had wished for them to have been, which had soured their overall experience. As a final message, they encouraged everyone to get DoPy snaps as ‘they are cheaper than coffee and tea’. They concluded by saying, ‘When you’re in your psenti sem and you’re packing your stuff, you will see those envelopes, go through the pictures and realise how many memories a DoPy snap can have.’