A photographer in action at a school in Bhubaneswar on Monday. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 19: A lot of youngsters called up to wish each other as the clock struck 12 at night.

While August 19 might not have had much significance for others, passionate young shutterbugs treat the day as a red letter one. The city that has a number of photography clubs found out various ways to celebrate the occasion of World Photography Day today.

About 10 photographers representing the newly formed club, Mushroom, decided to celebrate the day by bringing smiles on the faces of the deprived ones. They played the good Samaritans by visiting the biggest slum of the state located near Jayadev Vihar here in the morning and clicked pictures of the residents.

The shutterbugs clicked random pictures in the dingy lanes. They also visited a government school and clicked pictures of students with their teachers.

Then they went back to their respective studios to edit and print the pictures, and later in the evening, gifted those to the residents.

“The slum dwellers cannot afford to go to studios and get a family picture clicked. We decided to pull up our resources and celebrate the day with this small gesture. The students were so happy to be clicked, especially when we asked them to pose for the camera,” said 24-year-old Subrat Dash, an animation student who flaunts a tattoo of a camera on his arm. His teammate, Boon Patnaik, too, shared the same joy.

“Photography gives happiness to both the persons behind and in front of the camera,” said Dash.

Members of another club, Cliquers, could not meet in the morning owing to their professional commitments but decided to have a get together at Market Building in the evening.

“Every year, we celebrate the day by collaborating and discussing various ideas about photography. We then go around taking random clicks,” said 26-year-old Sabyasachi Jana, a software designer and member of the club.

The day was also celebrated in various academic institutes. The students of Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal, were given the topic “Rain” a week ago and Smaranika Tripathy was adjudged the best photographer today after all the entries were exhibited.

Before the results were declared, head of the institute Mrinal Chatterjee deliberated on the subjects of World Photography Day and Photo Journalism, tracing their history, importance and present status.

The social media sites were also flooded with jokes, pictures, illustrations and updates about the day.