Aug-2026: Hyderabad University Campus Photowalk in Collaboration with Hyderabad Central University (HCU), Sponsored by Sony

2026 has been a remarkable year for our mission of taking photography beyond the camera and into academia, with our university collaborations growing one chapter at a time.

And now, another special chapter unfolds at Hyderabad Central University, as part of the World Photography Day celebrations.

For the first time, the university opened its vast green campus to an outside photography community, giving us a rare opportunity to explore and capture its nature, landscapes, architecture, and everyday campus life. With this collaboration, hyderbad university opened its doors to our community, and another chapter was added to our 2026 journey.

Hyderabad Central University was the first university to believe in our community’s mission and vision back in 2025, when we came together to celebrate World Photography Day with the university for the first time. That connection continued into 2026, but this time, the university suggested something even more special. Along with the World Photography Day celebrations, they wanted to host an official photography walk inside the campus and give our community an opportunity to experience the university through our cameras.

The planning began almost two months before the photowalk. We were in regular touch with Professor Janardhan Rao, Head of the Department of Communication, and slowly started putting the entire experience together. Mr. Sai Tejeshwar Rao and I personally visited the Communication Department, met the professors and students, and formed a small planning team. Along with the university team and Mr. Goutham from Buffalo Media, we walked through the campus and explored the different locations we could cover during photowalk.

We checked the meeting points, breakfast location, parking areas, Buffalo Lake, Peacock Lake, Mushroom Rock and several other interesting corners of the campus. Every location was carefully considered so that the community could experience something different from our usual street and festival photography.

A good photowalk begins long before the first photograph is taken. It begins with curiosity, planning, and the people who make the experience possible.

Once everything was planned and coordinated, it was time to announce the collaboration. The response from our community was immediate and incredibly warm.

This was not an ordinary photowalk. Hyderabad Central University generally has restrictions around outside visitors entering the campus with professional cameras, making this a rare opportunity for our members.

For the first time, the university officially welcomed an outside photography community for a dedicated campus photowalk, with no fixed limit on the number of community members. More than 100 photographers immediately showed interest.

The official announcement went live, and the excitement began building.

The day finally arrived on 1st August 2026.

We asked everyone to reach early in the morning, with the main gate chosen as our gathering point. The actual meeting location was around one to one and a half kilometres inside the campus, so gathering everyone at the main gate made things easier, especially for members arriving by Rapido and other vehicles.

If they trust us to lead, we make sure no one is left behind.

By around 6 to 6:30 AM, members started arriving at the main gate. We quickly took attendance and made sure nobody was left behind. Once everyone was accounted for, we entered the campus together as one community.

At the main meeting point, the Communication Department team, professors, and university students were already waiting for us. Professor Janardhan Rao warmly welcomed the ShutterSociety.HYD community, and I shared our gratitude on behalf of everyone for giving us this rare opportunity.

We divided everyone into three groups so that everyone could explore different parts of the campus without crowding a single location.

Sony was also part of this collaboration, and their team arrived with a variety of lenses for the members to experience. They introduced the different lenses and helped form groups where photographers could try them and understand how different focal lengths could change the way they see and capture the same environment.

Buffalo Media was also an important part of the collaboration. Mr. Goutham from Buffalo Media had been involved from the planning stage itself and coordinated closely with us throughout the preparation and the photowalk.

A successful collaboration is built long before the cameras come out, through people who believe in the idea and work together to make it happen.

Before the groups moved out, we quickly formed smaller groups for photographs and then took one large group photograph with everyone together.

We gave everyone a clear gathering time of around 9 to 9:30 AM at the same meeting point, where Sony India had arranged breakfast for the entire group.

Then the campus opened up in different directions.

One group moved towards Buffalo Lake. Another headed towards Mushroom Rock through the scenic roads, while another group went towards Peacock Lake.

For a community that spends so much time photographing colourful streets, festivals, people, and celebrations, this was a completely different visual world.

Inside the campus, everything felt slower and quieter. Long stretches of green, old trees, water bodies, birds, insects, butterflies, natural light, and the sounds of peacocks created a completely different kind of photography experience.

Instead of searching for crowds and moments of action, our members began looking at the smaller stories around them. A leaf catching light. An insect moving through the grass. Reflections on the water. A bird disappearing between the trees. Tiny details that we might normally walk past suddenly became photographs worth waiting for.

When the world becomes quiet, photography teaches you to notice what you were too busy to see.

The students from Hyderabad Central University were experiencing the campus from another perspective as well. They were not just showing us their university. They were seeing it through the eyes of photographers who were noticing details in their everyday surroundings that they may have passed countless times before.

After spending time at Peacock Lake, the groups gradually moved towards Buffalo Lake, bringing more members together. Here, we found some beautiful locations for macros, natural light, portraits, candids, and group photographs.

The interaction between the university students and our community became even more natural. Students started moving freely with ShutterSociety.HYD members, asking questions, sharing ideas, and even trying different cameras. Some members helped them understand camera settings and composition, while the students introduced photographers to places and details that were special to the campus.

This was exactly what our academic collaboration mission is about.

Not simply bringing photographers into a university, but creating an environment where students can experience photography hands on with passionate people, exchange perspectives, and discover new possibilities beyond the classroom.

Learning does not always happen inside a classroom. Sometimes it happens when a student holds a camera, steps outside, and starts seeing the world differently.

At Buffalo Lake, we found a particularly beautiful spot between the trees, with the water stretching out in front of us. We sat there for a while, enjoying the surroundings, capturing the natural light, and simply taking in the atmosphere.

We also flew a drone from the location and captured a completely different perspective of the Hyderabad Central University campus. The aerial view revealed the scale and greenery of the campus in a way that could not be experienced from the ground.

The drone video was later shared with the university team, the department team, and the students appreciated the perspective and the effort behind capturing their campus from above. For them, it was another way of seeing a familiar place.

Please kindly expxeinces and watch that drone video here:

We continued exploring the surroundings, capturing group photographs, candid moments, macros, natural frames, and everything that caught our attention.

Near Buffalo Lake, we also discovered a water body with an old classroom bench sitting in the middle of the natural surroundings. Naturally, our photographers could not resist. Members started walking towards it, finding different positions, creating cinematic frames, and turning an ordinary bench into another memorable photograph.

We entered the campus looking for photographs, but somewhere along the way, the campus taught us how to slow down and observe.

It was one of those moments where everyone simply enjoyed being inside the green heart of the university.

For many of us, this was our first time spending a full photography morning surrounded by so much greenery. Within just a few hours, the community that usually searches for vibrant streets and energetic festivals had completely fallen in love with the quiet beauty of nature.

People began noticing butterflies, insects, birds, leaves, textures, reflections, water, shadows, and tiny movements around them. Macro photography became just as exciting as capturing a wide landscape. Every corner seemed to offer another frame.

And that was the beauty of this collaboration. It did not simply give us access to a campus. It changed the way we looked at the campus.

After several hours of exploring and capturing, everyone gradually returned to the breakfast point.

It was time to sit together again, relax, eat, and share the experiences from different groups.

The breakfast became another opportunity for the community members, students, professors, Sony team, and Buffalo Media to interact.

People discussed the lenses they had tried, photographs they had captured, locations they had explored, and the unexpected moments they discovered along the way.

There were plenty of conversations, laughter, selfies, group photographs, and simple moments of friendship.

A photograph may capture a moment, but a community gives that moment a memory.

After breakfast, we took a few moments to celebrate another milestone for ShutterSociety.HYD. From the heart of Hyderabad Central University, we officially launched our presence on LinkedIn, bringing our photography community into a platform where professional life, creativity, and meaningful connections come together.

LinkedIn is more than a place to showcase a profession. It is also a space where people can proudly share the passions, interests, and creative journeys that make them who they are.

Through our new LinkedIn presence, we want our members to showcase not only what they do professionally, but also their passion for photography and the stories they create beyond their work.

To mark the launch, a small group of our members came together for a special selfie video inside the university campus. It was a simple moment, but a meaningful one, connecting our community, our academic collaboration, and another step in taking photography into new spaces.

Let your profession show what you do. Let your passion show who you are.

We are deeply thankful to Hyderabad Central University, Professor Janardhan Rao, the Communication Department, and the university Students for welcoming our community and trusting us with this special collaboration.

A special thanks to Sony for supporting the photowalk, bringing different lenses for our members to experience, and arranging breakfast for everyone.

We are also grateful to Buffalo Media and Mr. Goutham for being part of the collaboration from the planning stage and supporting us throughout the experience.

And above all, thank you to every ShutterSociety.HYD member who joined early in the morning, followed the coordination, explored the campus with curiosity, interacted with the students, and helped make the day comfortable and memorable for everyone.

This photowalk was more than a celebration of World Photography Day. It was the beginning of our World Photography Day celebrations for 2026.

With this collaboration at Hyderabad Central University, the countdown to World Photography Day had officially begun.

Another group of students had experienced photography beyond the classroom.

And another chapter of our mission had been captured, not just through photographs, but through people, learning, collaboration, and shared experiences.