Jul – 2026: Bonalu Festival Photowalk in Collaboration with ICFAI IBS Hyderabad, Sponsored by Canon
One of our missions since day one has been to take our passion for photography into academia, and 2026 has seen that vision take a stronger shape than ever.
With collaborations across IIT Hyderabad, Lakhotia Collage of Design, IIIT Hyderabad, BITS Pilani, and the University of Hyderabad, we have continued to bring photography closer to young minds and creative communities.
Because our mission has always been simple: take photography beyond the camera, into classrooms, campuses, and communities, and create spaces where passion can be shared and experienced together.
Now, another chapter unfolds with ICFAI Business School Hyderabad and Nazaria Club, bringing together 80+ students and ShutterSociety.HYD members to capture and experience the colours, rituals, people, and spirit of Bonalu.
Our collobration talk with the ICFAI Business School Hyderabad team had been going for quite some time. We had been in touch with each other, but somehow the opportunity to bring both communities together for a photography event had not yet come.
Then, one week, the conversation finally moved from an idea to a plan. The Nazaria Club team reached out with a simple thought. They wanted their photography club students to experience Hyderabad through a photowalk with ShutterSociety.HYD members, explore the city together, and learn from one another along the way.
The best collaborations begin when two communities come together with the same curiosity and a willingness to learn from each other.
Luckily, Bonalu had just begun, and it felt like the perfect opportunity. I immediately suggested 26th July, the second Sunday of the festival, and proposed Golconda Fort as the destination. Interestingly, the Nazaria Club coordinator was not familiar with Bonalu or the scale of the celebration. I shared a few photographs and my documentary reel from the previous year and explained what makes the festival so special. The colours, the rituals, the people, the energy, and the entire day offered a wonderful opportunity to experience and photograph Hyderabad together.
After that, the Nazaria Club team checked the details and we had a group call with their members and the ShutterSociety.HYD founders. The date was finalised.
Before making the announcement, we also took care of the important permissions and coordination. We personally informed the local authorities and the concerned department at Golconda Fort and Telangana Tourism about the gathering. The Nazaria Club team also wrote to the Commissioner regarding the collaboration and the number of photographers expected to attend.
With the necessary support and permissions in place, we were ready to announce the photowalk.
Once the announcement went into our community groups, the response from ShutterSociety.HYD was again incredibly warm. Many members were excited to meet the students from ICFAI (IBS Hyd) and experience Bonalu together.
Some members had missed the first part of the festival and were eagerly waiting for another opportunity, while others simply wanted to return and capture Bonalu from a different perspective.
A great event is not only about what happens on the day. It is also about the care, coordination, and responsibility that happens before everyone arrives.
There was another special meaning to this collaboration. Students from different states study at ICFAI Business School Hyderabad, and for many of them, Bonalu was a completely new cultural experience. Being able to introduce them to one of Hyderabad’s most vibrant festivals through photography felt like another small but meaningful step in our mission of taking photography into academia and sharing the stories of our festival with a wider community.
Sometimes a photowalk becomes more than photography. It becomes a way of discovering a place, understanding its culture, and carrying that story back with you.
And then the day finally arrived.
Members started reaching Golconda Fort on time, with a few arriving early to experience the quieter moments before the celebration became crowded. Some were already looking for the slower rituals, empty spaces, early preparations, and small details that are often missed once the festival reaches its peak.
Soon, the ground came alive with our two communities. More than 60 ShutterSociety.HYD members joined the photowalk, while around 80 students from Nazaria Club arrived from the ICFAI IBS Hyderabad campus in two buses.
The scale of the gathering itself was something special. Students who were experiencing Bonalu for the first time stood alongside community members who had already spent years photographing festivals and street life.
We began with a detailed briefing. I explained the basic flow of the day and how everyone could approach the festival photographically. The morning would begin with the temple journey and rituals, followed by the preparation of Bonam and prasadam on the ground. After lunch, the focus would move towards the Jogini procession and Bonalu celebrations, followed later by the Pothuraju captures around 4 to 4:30 PM before we slowly wound up.
We also encouraged members to form small groups with the Nazaria Club students. If someone needed help with a camera, settings, framing, or even simply understanding what to look for, there would always be a ShutterSociety.HYD member nearby. Smartphone photographers were also encouraged to interact with camera users and experience photography from a different perspective.
You do not have to know everything to teach someone. Sometimes sharing what you know is enough to help another person see differently.
After the briefing, we took multiple group photographs. The excitement was easy to see on the students’ faces. For many of them, this was their first experience of Bonalu at Golconda Fort and their first time joining such a large photography community. On the other side, our members were equally excited to welcome them, introduce them to the festival, and begin the day together.
Soon, the groups naturally started moving in different directions.
Some interested students joined ShutterSociety.HYD members and walked towards the temple. Together, they followed the story of the festival through the staircase, the movement of people, the tilak being applied, the expressions, and the small interactions along the way.
Instead of simply photographing the final ritual, they were learning to follow the story from its beginning.
Others remained on the main ground and started documenting the preparations. Women preparing Bonam, people cooking prasadam, decorations, rituals, colours, expressions, and the constant movement around the fort became frames waiting to be discovered.
This is where the combination of students and community members became truly visible. Within a few hours, unfamiliar faces were no longer unfamiliar. People were discussing compositions, sharing camera settings, helping each other find better positions, and simply talking about what they were seeing.
We may carry different cameras and come from different places, but photography gives us a common language to connect.
As the morning moved forward, everyone slowly gathered back at the lunch location. We had our official lunch break and shared the prasadam together. After several hours of walking and photographing, it was a much needed pause for everyone to sit together, eat, talk, and recharge.
A few organisers were playing Bonalu songs on the ground, and there was already a festive energy building around us. I personally approached them and requested a short 15 minute play of festival music for our group.
Students from Nazaria Club and members of ShutterSociety.HYD came together on the ground, dancing, laughing, and enjoying the music.
Cameras were still around, but for those few minutes, nobody was thinking only about photographs. We were simply enjoying the festival together.
Some moments are meant to be photographed. Others are meant to be lived first.
After the dance break, everyone returned to photography mode and continued capturing the Jogini procession and the Bonalu celebrations.
The energy had changed completely by then. The morning had introduced everyone to the festival, but the afternoon brought the full intensity of the celebration.
Bonam carriers moved through the crowd, rituals unfolded around us, and every few seconds brought another visual story. Haldi, kumkum, flowers, fire, movement, expressions, colours, and the constant energy of the devotees created an incredible environment for documentary photography.
Our members continued helping the students find safe and meaningful positions to photograph from. Instead of everyone trying to capture the same frame, people began exploring different perspectives. Some focused on portraits, some on rituals, some on details, and others on the wider atmosphere.
The best photographs are often found when you stop looking for a perfect frame and start observing the complete story.
Throughout the day, We, founders of ShutterSociety.HYD were also keeping a close eye on the group. Managing a gathering of this size inside a crowded festival environment is never simple.
We kept checking on the students and members, making sure everyone was comfortable, following the timeline, staying together where required, and getting the help they needed.
At the same time, the support from everyone made a huge difference. Members followed the instructions, respected the festival environment, helped the students, and cooperated with the coordination throughout the day. That collective responsibility helped the entire experience move smoothly despite the crowd and the scale of the gathering.
A community becomes stronger when everyone understands that a successful experience is a shared responsibility.
As the afternoon moved towards its final chapter, attention shifted towards Pothuraju. We moved together to another area of the fort where the Pothurajus were preparing themselves. Once again, photographers gathered around, capturing the preparation, expressions, makeup, colours, and powerful visual presence of the performers.
As the Pothurajus completed their preparation, the atmosphere around them became even more energetic. The Pothurajus themselves came towards us and pulled a few of our members into the celebration, and within moments, the entire atmosphere turned into a vibrant dance floor.
Photographers and students started dancing together with the Pothurajus, completely caught up in their energy and spirit.
It became one of the most unexpected and joyful moments of the day, giving everyone a chance to experience Bonalu not just through the camera, but right in the middle of its energy and celebration.
Some days give you photographs. Some days give you memories. Bonalu gave us both.
What made the Pothuraju moment even more special was what happened afterwards. One of the organisers came to our group and personally thanked us for documenting and presenting the essence of Bonalu and Hyderabad to so many photographers. It was a simple gesture, but it meant a lot to everyone who had spent the entire day trying to capture the festival respectfully.
By around 5 PM, the main activities were coming to an end. We gathered together once again and took a few quiet moments to hear from the Nazaria Club students about their experience.
Their response was genuinely warm.
Many of them said they had not expected Bonalu to be so vibrant. Before coming out from the campus, they had imagined a photowalk, but they had not imagined an entire day filled with rituals, colours, people, music, photography, celebration, and so much interaction with the community.
They thanked the ShutterSociety.HYD all members for the coordination, guidance, support, festival knowledge, photography help, and the way everyone took responsibility for making them comfortable throughout the day. They also invited us to their campus for more such collaborations and events in the future.
When a collaboration ends with people asking when they can meet again, you know it became more than an event.
Looking back, bringing more than 140 people together for a full day inside one of Hyderabad’s busiest festival celebrations was a responsibility we took seriously. From planning and permissions to briefing, group formation, photography, meals, movement, safety, and the final wind up, every small part needed attention.
And once again, the credit does not belong to one person. It belongs to everyone who followed the plan, helped another photographer, guided a student, respected the festival, shared knowledge, and made space for someone else to experience photography.
Good coordination brings people together. Good community makes them feel they belong.
A special thanks to all the ShutterSociety.HYD members who joined and supported the day, and to every member who helped the Nazaria Club students throughout the photowalk.
A heartfelt thanks to ICFAI Business School Hyderabad and Nazaria Club for trusting us with this collaboration and bringing students into the world of Hyderabad’s Bonalu.
And a special thanks to Mr. Aryan from the Nazaria Club, who coordinated with me from day one and played an important role in bringing both communities together.
Most importantly, this was not simply a Bonalu photowalk.
It was another step in a mission that started with a simple belief: photography can connect people, photography can enter classrooms and campuses, photography can introduce cultures, and photography can create communities.
On this day at Golconda Fort, two communities came together with different experiences, different cameras, different backgrounds, and one shared passion.
We did not just capture Bonalu. We experienced it together.
And somewhere between the photographs, the rituals, the conversations, the dance, and the final group photograph, another chapter of our journey was written.
