Statistically, photography has become a ubiquitous hobby among millennials around the world. In 2017, 1.2 trillion photos were clicked – about 160 pictures for each of the 7.5Bn people on earth! In 2016, 350Mn photos were shared on Facebook, 95Mn on Instagram, 400Mn Snapchat and 1.6Bn via WhatsApp every day. But you don’t have to go that far. Open your social media feeds and you will see that we’re all photographers in this brave new world. But with the opportunity to share memories, travels, and experiences across so many social media platforms, more and more photographers are looking to pick up the right gear and the right skills to click memorable pictures.
To help budding photographers in this journey, Amazon.in will launch Shutterbug, a club for photography enthusiasts, on May 9. An India-only and the first such initiative across Amazon geographies, Shutterbug is designed to be a close-knit community of sorts for photographers. But there are several other benefits too.
An opportunity to learn from the experts
At its heart, Shutterbug comes with the aim to educate and upskill budding photographers in India. To achieve this, Amazon has partnered with Toehold Travel & Photography, a renowned training brand helmed by Jayanth Sharma, a Sanctuary Asia award-winning photographer. Shutterbug will feature original bite-sized video training content and exercises from Toehold.
There is also a formal course that’s part of the upskilling initiative, known as Essentials of Photography. The Essentials course will feature five modules with 17 videos. Shutterbug will also feature monthly content on advanced techniques on different genres of photography.
But that’s not all. Amazon is bringing top imaging brands like Canon, Sony, Leica, and Fujifilm into the Shutterbug fold – an opportunity that will facilitate closer engagement between consumers and imaging brands.
An online community with strong offline footprint
For most part, Shutterbug will be an online community, with frequent social media hangouts, live interactions with experts and peer photographers. In order to encourage and celebrate photographers around the country, the club will organize a fortnightly theme-based photography contest which will be judged by Toehold and imaging brand partners. Winning photos and photographers will be featured on Amazon India’s Instagram handle and the Shutterbug gallery.
The online engagements and contests are just part of all that Shutterbug is designed to do. In order to facilitate closer interactions between its members, experts and the photography community at large, the club will also organize offline events like photo walks, workshops, and networking sessions in several cities in India.
