A weekend click by IT professional from Chennai wins coveted photo award

At the latest edition of Chennai Photo Biennale’s pan-India competition,  Akilan Thyagarajan’s picture of a newly-wed Irular couple was adjudged the best in the ‘Portrait — Single Image’ category

If the summit arrives barely into the trek, a mound has been scaled, not a mountain. The path to meaningful self-fulfilment is never direct and quick, only circuitous and long-winded. It is a meandering path. It is unlikely this epiphany flashed into Akilan Thyagarajan’s mind in the moment he received a winner’s plaque at the latest edition of Chennai Photo  Biennale’s Photo Awards on April 4.

But if he looked back on the shuffle from his seat to the stage at a hall in The Leela Palace, he would realise that the short walk packed thousands of miles spread over nearly a decade and a half. His picture of a young wedded couple so wrapped in each other, their eyes alight with affection, won him the top honours in the “Portrait — Single Image” category.

In 2010, a younger Akilan (now 47) was in an onsite project in Italy, as an IT professional. Faced with a dual demand — a new project to excel in and a new place to get accustomed to — Akilan was seeking relief from the mounting stress. He found it in photography, the relief coming not so much from the photography as from the walks he undertook on account of it. Photography was however gaining on him. While in Italy, he started following the works of photography enthusiasts in Chennai who were capping off a sedentary week at office with weekend clicks.

“I was impacted by the works of Ashok Saravanan. Following his work led me to an informal group — Chennai Weekend Clickers (CWC). It consists of professionals from various fields that were united by a passion for photography. Every Sunday, they head to a new place and click away, and their works are posted on Flickr. They would write a review of the place for the benefit of those who would want to click pictures there,” recalls Akilan.

Given Akilan’s fascination for CWC, one would have expected him to join ranks with them immediately on his return to Chennai. The onsite project ended and he was back in Chennai in 2011, but a whole three years would elapse before he joined CWC.

“Diffidence kept me from joining the group earlier than I did,” explains Akilan. When he got acquainted with CWC’s philosophy — everyone should be allowed to be comfortable in their own skin and learn at their own pace — he regretted having wallowed in procrastination and self-doubt.

“There are weekends when clicks do not happen the way one expected, but the group never engages in self-condemnation. They would talk, hang out and disperse, the better for having gathered together,” says Akilan.