Vautha The Animal Trade Fair

Piyush Patel, the man behind the lens, who captured the mind-numbing picture of the serial blasts in Ahmedabad on the black day of July 26, 2008, is a chief photographer in DNA. Being a professional photographer, he has always experimented with varied genres of photography, especially Candid. His niche lies in capturing the mundane in a dramatic way explaining vivid human emotions. Piyush has so far won several accolades for his photography and has been published in many renowned magazines till date.

India is a land of festivity but there are several offbeat festivals that much people aren’t aware about. Piyush has brought us one such festival from the land of traditions and culture, Gujarat. The Vautha Festival is one of the biggest animal trade festival held in Vautha, Gujarat. The village’s population is around 2000 people but during this celebration the flock rushes up to 500,000 people. Thousands of camels and donkeys are brought for trading and people pray, celebrate, eat during this 3day festival. The festival is being celebrated since quiet a long time now and is also a contemporary tourism spot. There are very few occasions when a photographer obtains an opportunity to capture wildlife and candid subjects under a single frame and ‘Vautha The Animal Trade Fair’ is one such unique album.

Photo Studio Curator : Ketan Modi