wwim12srilanka

Roughly 50 users turned up at the photo walk that kicked off at the Castle Hotel on 4 October

Abdul-Halik Azeez

Malaka Pathmalal

Menika Van Der Poorten

The impromptu discussion

By Himal Kotelawala

Normally, a bunch of fashionably underdressed young – and not so young – people gathered at the seemingly derelict and appropriately shady Castle Hotel in Slave Island with their expensive smartphones, DSLRs, selfie-sticks and Go-Pro cameras would be the kind of thing one might be tempted to write off as being nothing more than yet another ego-stroke session of the Colombo hipster circle.  This particular meeting, however, was, anything but. Far from it, in fact.

But first, let’s get some definitions out of the way:

An Instameet is a meet-up of amateur photographers who have taken their hobby of posting filtered-to-high-heaven pictures on the photo-sharing social network Instagram (IG) and turned it into an art form that some critics have actually started to take seriously.

Instameets happen all over the world, and for well over two years now, Sri Lanka has had several sporadic Instameets at various locations in the city. This month’s meeting was part of an official worldwide Instameet known as #wwim12, or as it was referred to locally, #wwim12srilanka. If you’re on Instagram, follow this hashtag for a closer look of what transpired on that balmy albeit rain soaked October evening last week.

Roughly 50 users turned up at the photo walk that kicked off at the Castle Hotel on 4 October, where a brief and impromptu panel discussion was held, with the likes of Menika Van Der Poorten and Malaka Pathmalal, both experienced and, one might say, ‘serious’ photographers, speaking to the largely amateur crowd about, among other things, the do-s and don’ts of street photography. 

And then started the event proper, the photo walk, with everyone wandering the streets, snapping away, and a few upper middle class Colombo kids braving the back-alleys of the Slave Island ghetto, taking pictures and actually making conversation with the curious onlookers. It was a sight to behold.

Consultant and Independent Researcher Abdul-Halik Azeez, something of a celebrity on Instagram and the man directly responsible for introducing Instameets as a concept to Sri Lanka, tells the Daily FT that the whole point of the exercise was to develop the community.

“It’s an opportunity for community building, and a chance for people to be exposed to areas they otherwise wouldn’t be. An opportunity to gain a different perspective and explore it through photography, whilst engaging with the community of Instagrammers,” he says.

Instagram has come a long way since its inception. From a platform used solely for food pics (or #foodporn) and casually narcissistic ‘selfies’ to a vibrant community of socially-conscious photographers looking to make a difference. Or has it?

“Well, you still get a lot of that stuff on IG. But I think people who want to spread socially conscious messages have found it a very useful platform to do so. Images are far more powerful than text alone, and IG allows you to combine both. IG is also easily accessible and has a wide audience,” says Halik.

With nearly 20,000 followers, Halik, or @colombedouin as he is known on Instagram, has been able to spread his own message of social justice, equality and minority rights through the platform using it as a powerful tool to get the word out.

“It’s been quite an interesting journey for me, personally. I never started off wanting to be a photographer per se, but now I’ve sort of become one. I think IG played a huge role in giving me that exposure and opening up new platforms. Exhibiting my work at the Saskia Fernando Gallery and getting commissions, etc., has been a massive confidence boost and now I’m looking forward to working more seriously as a documentary photographer,” he says.

Follow the hashtag #wwim12srilanka for more.

Pix by Nazly Ahmed

Photo walk

Pics by Himal Kotelawala