Picsdream: A joyride for amateur photography Picsdream made its debut with a five-day long photography exhibition at the India Habitat Centre

What do you do with your photographs after posting it on Facebook account or after sharing it with your friends through Whatsapp? You store them and forget! Have you ever thought how wonderful it would be if you could sell those photographs or showcase it among the Indian folks? You must be wondering how can this be possible. Mahesh Nair, an avid professional photographer, quit his corporate job in 2005 to pursue his passion for nature and wildlife photography and has turned this into a reality through his startup.

The Launch

On November 5, Nair announced the launch of its portal Picsdream.com, India's first photography centric marketplace and its app for both Android and iOS users. Picsdream made its launch debut on November 5 with a five-day long photography exhibition at the India Habitat Centre along with a dance, music-drama production titled "Imago', which traces the history of the image from cave paintings, through the renaissance period to the current day selfie phenomena which makes everyone a creator.

Commenting on its launch, Nair, Founder and CEO, Picsdream said, "A beautiful photograph can be captured by anyone, anywhere. With the advancement in mobile technology, each one of us can be a creator. While there are several businesses that cater to professional photographers, there is none that allows sharing of beautiful photographs by amateurs that may find appreciation. As a photographer, the idea of Picsdream is to provide creators/amateur photographers a platform where they can share, showcase, learn and monetize their passion".

Its offering/services

The startup offers creators of photographs a portal to display, share and monetize their work. Further, platform connects amateur photographers, semi professional and professionals alike, to users who may wish to purchase their photographs and provides the users with options of canvases on which they may want it printed and delivered to their doorstep. In addition to being a market place, Picsdream will also be a community where creators/ photographers can learn and share best practices of their work and add value to it.

Using technology in its best way

Picsdream stems from the pervasive use of technology, especially from the widespread adoption of smart phones by Millennials and Generation Z, where everyone has become a creator. Facebook undoubtedly proves that the new generation likes to share photographs and get appreciated by their online network. Facebook users upload more than 350 million photographs a day and Instagram users upload over 60 million photographs a day.

Speaking on the same lines, Raghav Sethi, Associate Vice President (Marketing and Strategy), Picsdream said, "We believe that Picsdream would be an ideal platform to empower photographers and keep them motivated towards sharing and learning more, as well as perfecting this form of art. Moreover, the growth of the Internet is testament to the fact that convenience and appeal are two key attributes that drive user behavior today. Both for contributors to Picsdream and users who wish to purchase will enjoy and appreciate the ease of experience that we bring to them. We are making the experience of buying and printing on any kind of canvas such as acrylic, wood, aluminum, cloth, as easy as ordering something from the Flipkart' and the Amazon'."

Who they are targeting?

Picsdream's key target audience is retail consumers, institutional buyers, corporates, interior designers and home decoration shoppers. They may wish to embellish their interiors with canvases of stunning photographs available on picsdream.com. It also caters to the need for high quality pictures and videos of advertising agencies, magazines and TV channels.

Picsdream allows its contributor community some unique features such as single/bulk upload from the mobile phone app or website, safe and secure storage for high resolution photos and videos, the ability to share photos or videos to any social media site or publish to blogs and geo-tagging of visual search based keyword engine. Importantly, the contributor community will have the control of quoting the price of their contributions and own the copyright to their work. For the users who wish to purchase or download, Picsdream will provide them the option of having the photograph(s) printed on a variety of canvases.

"My vision for Picsdream is to create a platform which would be the biggest platform for the Indian visual art community. Starting with photographs, then videos and then to other forms of visual art, Picsdream would be the largest community and marketplace for visual arts in India," said Nair.