Club Mahindra Better Photography Fun Frames , India's first family Photography Awards has a winner from Delhi

The Club Mahindra Better Photography Sandeep Khosla, Chief Executive Officer, Infomedia 18 which began as an initiative by India's No. 1 photography magazine, Better Photography was open for all to participate. The concept was to capture precious memorable moments shared with family and friends through photographs. Along with an International holiday package to Bangkok from Club Mahindra for an entire family and a fabulous Olympus PEN E-PL3 camera from associate partner Olympus, the winner also won an opportunity to be recognized on a national level by the magazine. Additionally seeing the response of the participants, Club Mahindra decided to give away a second prize to the runner-up which is a domestic holiday package to any Club Mahindra resort in India, and was won by Debashis Mukherjee from Kolkata.

The occasion was graced by the presence of renowned photographers like Dinesh Khanna, Diinesh Kumble, H Satish, C R Satyanarayana, Pallon Daruwala, Swapan Nayak and Vivek Victor Sequiera. They were also joined by General Manager, Club Mahindra Kodagu Valley, Coorg, Vikas Syal.

The magazine received an overwhelming 6,000 entries from towns and cities all over India wherein six participants were chosen for the final competitive Face-Off, at Club Mahindra's Kodagu Valley Resort, Coorg. The theme of the Face-Off was "Frames for Life' wherein the best entry would decide the final winner.

Rajiv Kumar Solanki from Delhi was chosen the winner of Better Photography Magazine's very first family photography awards. Supported by his wife and a year old daughter, he claims that it was because of their presence he won the contest.

"I am so humbled by this win. Just to have an opportunity to partake in this contest and spend time with family was really special. I would like to thank Better Photography magazine for this opportunity. I never thought I would be felicitated on a national level just because of a hobby which has spurred me to make it my passion," said Rajiv.

This year marked the very first family photography awards of its kind and the magazine would continue to promote it as a yearly property.

The contest was promoted on a large scale through television promos on CNBC TV18, CNN IBN, Awaaz, IBN 7, IBN Lokmat, magazine advertisements in Better Photography, Overdrive, T3, Chip, AV Max, Better Interiors, Entrepreneur, Burrp, Noise Factory along with banner ads across web18 sites including In.com, moneycontrol.com , ibnlive, ibnkhabar, cricketnext.com.

Social media was targeted and the contest was highlighted on Facebook and Twitter with various continuous promotions across Club Mahindra properties through banners, standees and fliers. The entries were collected through a dedicated website (https://betterphotography.in/funframes/ ) as well as physical print entries by post.

Better Photography Editor, K. Madhavan Pillai said "It was a deserving win. The participation with the respective families who cheered the finalists was special. It's the very first year for the Club Mahindra Better Photography Fun Frames contest and we have realized that there is so much untapped talent in the country."

Sandeep Khosla, Chief Executive Officer, Infomedia 18 said, "We did not expect such an enormous response and I am grateful to everyone who participated in this contest. We would be continuing this initiative on a yearly basis and now that we have launched the Hindi version of the Better Photography magazine we would surely expect to receive a higher response from the nation. We will continue to conduct many more opportunities through photography to explore the capabilities of the people of India."

It was in the skilled hands of renowned photographer Dinesh Khanna who is based out of Delhi, to select the final winner after the Face Off. "Each entry was unique and exceptional but I knew the final entry by Rajiv was a sure win because he managed to bring in the essence of family and togetherness in his frames. This initiative by Better Photography is impressive and I wish them all the best for the future," said Dinesh.

The Face Off took place at Club Mahindra's Kodagu Valley Resort , Coorg and it was an ideal location for photography as the finalists even received an opportunity to stay and spend time with their families in the resort.

Indranil Chakraborty, Chief Marketing Officer, Mahindra Holidays, "Coorg is one of the attractive tourist destinations in India and we are pleased to join hands with Better Photography magazine for this new initiative. Club Mahindra Kodagu Valley provides the perfect setting to immerse oneself in the nature's splendor. It was a pleasure to host the six finalists and we are proud to present the holiday package from Club Mahindra for the winner and his family."

The winner of the special Olympus category was judged separately and the winner under this category was Rajtilak Naik from Goa. He was gifted the latest Olympus PEN E-P3 camera.

Krupa Ghandhi, Senior Manager - Corporate Communications said, "The Better Photography Fun Frames contest is truly unique. This first-of-its-kind photo contest does not only test the photographer's skills and commitment to the art form, but also seeks for support and cooperation from the family as a whole. For the Olympus "PEN your Memories' category, we got the participants out of their comfort zones by compelling them to shoot with our flagship, PEN E-P3. This gave us opportunity to showcase the strengths of the PEN mirrorless line-up as well as closely understand user psyche. Olympus is honored to have partnered with Better Photography in this first-edition of the Fun Frames contest!"

The winner and the details about the face off would be published in the January Issue of the Better Photography Magazine.