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Click meets craft as OPPO Photography Awards 2025 frame India’s stories
MUMBAI: Sometimes, it only takes a phone and a feeling. That belief sat at the heart of the OPPO India Photography Awards 2025, which wrapped up its second edition by celebrating creators who transformed everyday moments into striking visual stories, one frame at a time.
Anchored in the theme Super Every Moment, the awards drew over 30,000 entries from across India, underlining the growing appetite for emotion-led smartphone photography. Powered by OPPO’s LUMO imaging system, the platform spotlighted how fleeting, ordinary scenes can be elevated into lasting narratives with the right mix of intent and technology.
From thousands of submissions, three photographers emerged as national winners. Soumyasikha Manna from West Bengal took Gold, earning Rs 5,00,000, for a quiet yet powerful portrait capturing the dignity and resilience of a specially abled tribal man. Prathamesh Ganesh Shinde of Maharashtra won Silver and Rs 2,00,000 for his elegant depiction of the traditional sport of Mallakhamb, while Shubham Keshari from Uttar Pradesh secured Bronze and Rs 1,00,000 for a richly textured visual ode to Varanasi’s timeless rhythms.
Beyond the podium, the competition widened its lens across nine categories, from Super Snap and Super Youth to Super Culture and Super Environs. Forty photographers progressed to the second round, shooting exclusively on the OPPO Find X8 Pro, a real-world test of how flagship mobile imaging performs when placed in creative hands.
The jury brought together industry heavyweights, including renowned photographer Joseph Radhik and Vikram Channa, who assessed entries on both technical finesse and emotional resonance. Their verdict was clear: the strongest images were those rooted in lived experience and local nuance.
Category winners reflected the diversity of Indian storytelling, with photographers from West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh recognised. Each category winner will receive OPPO’s latest flagship device from the Find X9 series, extending the brand’s push to nurture emerging talent.
OPPO India head of product and digital marketing Sushant Vashistha said the awards are built on a simple idea, technology should deepen expression, not overshadow it. That sentiment was echoed by Joseph Radhik, who noted that the most memorable images were those where intent and innovation worked in quiet harmony.
Indian talent also made its mark globally. The international edition of the OPPO Photography Awards 2025 attracted nearly 2 million entries from 87 countries, the largest response in the contest’s history. Two Indian photographers were honoured with regional awards for works captured on the Find X8 Pro, carrying Indian stories to a worldwide stage.
At the centre of it all is OPPO’s LUMO Imaging System, blending advanced hardware with AI-driven computational photography to deliver richer tones, nuanced light and cinematic depth. The result is mobile photography that feels less like a shortcut and more like a serious storytelling tool.
In an age of endless scrolling, the OPPO Photography Awards 2025 served as a reminder, when observation meets intention, even the smallest moment can command attention and linger long after the screen goes dark.
MAM
Three senior OpenAI infrastructure executives join Meta
Key members of Stargate project move to rival amid aggressive AI spending race.
MUMBAI: Three key architects of OpenAI’s ambitious data centre plans have switched sides and joined Meta Platforms, according to people familiar with the matter. Peter Hoeschele, who played a central role in OpenAI’s high-profile Stargate initiative, is among the new hires. He is joined by Shamez Hemani, who focused on computing strategy and business development, and Anuj Saharan, another leader in the computing organisation. The Information first reported their departure from OpenAI on Thursday.
The moves come as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to spend aggressively on AI infrastructure. The company is projecting capital expenditure of up to $135 billion this year alone, with hundreds of billions more expected before the end of the decade to support its Meta Superintelligence Labs and new models such as Muse Spark.
OpenAI, which is pushing ahead with massive data centre expansion, had described its early lead in securing computing power as a competitive advantage. Stargate, originally announced last year as a $500 billion venture involving OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, has since become an umbrella term for the company’s broader data centre ambitions. However, the project has seen recent adjustments, including a pause on its UK plans and the decision not to expand the Abilene, Texas site.
A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment, while Hoeschele, Hemani, and Saharan also declined to comment. OpenAI said it was grateful for the contributions of the three employees and remains focused on hiring talent for its infrastructure plans. The company recently brought in former Intel executive Sachin Katti to lead its industrial compute efforts.
In the high-stakes race to build the future of artificial intelligence, talent is proving to be as valuable as computing power itself. Meta’s latest hires suggest the competition for top infrastructure minds is intensifying, even as OpenAI continues to scale its own ambitious projects. The move highlights how quickly the AI talent war is heating up across Silicon Valley.
