Events · Coming soon
A photo and video contest for small creators, run season after season. Season 01 has not started yet, so here is a first look: pick a part of Kolkata, show it the way only you can, and the best photographers and videographers will be invited to intern with My Coolkata.
Season 01 · Coming soon · for photographers and videographers
Season 01 · The theme
পাড়ার ছবি
Any neighbourhood, one city. Pick the part of Kolkata you know best and show us what the rest of us walk straight past.
Two ways in
Enter one track or both. A phone is enough for either: what we are looking for is an eye for the city, not the price of the kit.
ছবি
A short series of photographs about one para. Tell us something about the place, not just what it looks like.
ভিডিও
One short video about one para. A reel, a walk, a portrait of a single stall: the form is up to you.
How it works
Five frames, start to finish. Every season runs the same way, so once you have entered one you know the next.
▸ 01
Pick a para
Choose any part of Kolkata, from the sheet or from your own streets.
▸ 02
Shoot it
Phone or camera. What matters is that it could only be this place.
▸ 03
Send it in
Enter through the form before the deadline, with a line on where and why.
▸ 04
The shortlist
The My Coolkata team picks a shortlist, shown on this site with your name on it.
▸ 05★
Join the crew
The best photographers and videographers are invited to intern with My Coolkata.
The prize
The best photographers and videographers of each season are invited to intern with My Coolkata, for 1 or 3 months.
▸ 01
Real assignments
Shoot parts of the city for My Coolkata's own pages.
▸ 02
Your name on your work
Everything you make for the site is credited to you.
▸ 03
See how it gets made
From the brief to the published page, alongside the team.
▸ 04
Something to show for it
Leave with published work for your portfolio.
The length of each internship, and how many places there are, is announced with the season.
It keeps rolling
Every few months a new theme and a new crew. Miss this one and there is another frame waiting.
Paras of Kolkata
Coming soon
A new theme
To be announced
A new theme
To be announced
And the one after that
To be announced
Questions
The full rules come with each season's entry form. These are the ones people ask first.
Small creators, students, hobbyists and influencers. You do not need a big following, a portfolio or an expensive camera.
No. They are starting points, each with a brief. Any neighbourhood of Kolkata counts, from Behala to Baranagar, so shoot the one you know best.
Yes, for both tracks. The judging is about the eye, not the equipment.
Yes. Each track is judged on its own.
Ask before you photograph or film someone up close, especially at work or at worship. A good picture of this city is made with its people, not taken from them.
One month or three. The length, and how many places there are, is announced with each season before entries open.
Anything shortlisted and shown on My Coolkata carries your name. The full terms are published with each season's entry form.
Seasons run one after another, a few months apart, each with a new theme. The dates for this one will be announced on this page.
তোমার পাড়া, তোমার ফ্রেম
Start scouting now. When Season 01 opens, the entry form goes up right here.