With just a few days to Oasis, Tanay Sah, the coordinator of the Photography Club (popularly known as Photog) was shuffling through the various preparations he had to make for the fest. He took out some time from his busy schedule to talk about the club and its contribution to the fest.

This Oasis, Photog is organising many events. The club will be conducting two competitions and a talk along with setting up their gallery and covering events. The gallery, which will be set up in 2204 and will be open throughout the fest, will consist of five panels: two panels by second years, two panels by third years – out of which one will be the central panel and will incorporate the theme of the fest in its photos – and a fifth panel which will present the winning entries of the photography competition ‘Exposure’.

Exposure is a competition where participants from BITS and other colleges can submit their entries in the various categories listed. The second competition, ‘Oasis Through My Lens’ will give the fest-goers a chance to showcase their skills in real-time by submitting photos of the fest that they have taken. Winners of these competitions will be given coupons to avail photography courses by the Indian Institute of Photography and a chance to get their entries published in Youth Chronicles, an online photography magazine. The club will also be hosting travel bloggers ‘Salt and Sandals’ who will be giving a talk on their journey to becoming photographers and how travelling has become closely intertwined with photography.

Aside from events, Photog will also look after the coverage of Oasis. With the absence of professional photographers this time, Photog will solely handle the entire load. Due to insufficient manpower, they will not be able to cover the entire fest, and some events will be left out. A graded list has been prepared by the StuCCA and events will be covered based on priority.

With a considerable amount of work to be done, Tanay has had a tough time balancing both academics and club responsibilities. He mentioned that his academics took a toll as he was busy with work even during midsems. Despite this, he feels that this is a great learning opportunity for him as he will learn how to balance multiple spheres of his life by working in situations like this.