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HE grew up amongst cameras. And now he is on an endeavour to promote budding photographers by giving them opportunities. Meet Srikantan Suryanarayan, managing director of Pixetra, a retail chain selling photography equipment. The Pixetra Club formed by Srikantan is a platform for photo enthusiasts to learn and share their interest. And they are the official photographers for the India stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race. They are doing it as a voluntary service.
 
When Kochi was selected as one of the stopover ports, we approached the Port management with the proposal, he said. They also submitted a portfolio of the club to convince them about the quality of the pictures taken by the members. "It is going to be a learning experience for the members," he said. The event will be a great opportunity as it is  an international sporting event. They will get a chance to interact with foreign photographers as well. Besides, the pictures will be featured in the coffee table book being prepared by the port. It will be uploaded on the web with credit line," said Srikantan, who is the son of K N Suryanarayan, a renowned photographer of yesteryear.
 
Pixetra Club has around 2,500 members from all over India. "Of these 50 lensmen who have DSLR cameras will be on the assignment. The club members are not professional photographers but enthusiasts, but they are on par with professionals," said Srikantan. In  addition to assigning photographers to potential spots like Vypeen and Fort Kochi, some will be taken to the high seas during the arrival of the yachts. Every day we will provide 100 pictures to the Port Trust. All the activities of the team will be monitored by a core committee of renowned photographers consisting of Balan Madhavan, G Sethuraman and Amoghavarsha," he said.
 
Srikantan said that they were also planning an album of pictures taken by the club members by the end of the event which can be used as an archive. "I will also click a few pictures along with the club members," Srikantan says.