Held in Changsha, Hunan Province, China, the International Orange Photo Festival took place from Oct 22 to 29. This event aims to grow into an influential creative cultural projects, and also to promote the city of Changsha. The exhibitions included international names from the region and beyond, alongside works by Chinese photographers. Visit the official website to find out more about the festival. Photographer/writer Zhuang Wubin reported from festival, he also curated one of the exhibitions for South East Asian photography.

(While I try to lead my double life, I would love it if future festival organizers would send me invites for all-expense-paid trips. :D)

I saw many people posing around town yesterday for the (day-to-evening) annual Canon Photo Marathon. It’s the only time of the year where you see people dressed in the same t-shirts, armed with huge DSLRs and prancing at various places in the city. I gave up on trying to win something after several tries.

This time round, the nighttime photo marathon seems to be even more challenging – lack of sleep, limited access, police, mosquitoes etc. I think we will see lots of long exposures/light streaks so word of advice to would-be participants: think of something more creative! Lots of caffeine required but I think everyone will have fun.

For more information and to sign up, please visit SIPF’s satellite event page here.

Good luck and have fun!

A number of familiar names will be showing at the festival and a lot more unfamiliar ones. I will probably scour through the list and dig up the photographers’ works. What’s noteworthy is the slideshows to be shown throughout the city – one on the Bangkok unrest earlier this year and the devastation that ripped through Haiti.

A pity I won’t be attending (I used to lack the funds, now I lack the time.) but do make your travel arrangements early. I heard that accommodation would be close to impossible to find during that period.

Visit the website and the latest newsletter for more information.

The open call for exhibition submissions started today and is meant to showcase both established and emerging photographers. There are two categories that you should be aware of: the open category where there is no fixed theme and the theme-based category. The theme is Human:Nature and artists are welcome to interpret this.

For emerging photographers from Southeast Asia, the workshop and portfolio review will be held once again. I was a participant last year and learnt a lot from it. And I made friends with some of the coolest bunch of people on Earth. More details can be found here.

As a volunteer-run event, the festival requires as many hands as possible. If you are dedicated and willing to work for a good cause, please do not hesitate to render your services. Enquire here.

The open call ends on March 30, 2010. Note that there would be a charge this time for the submissions in order to sieve out people who are really interested.

Edited (15 Jun 09): Apparently there won’t be the festival this year but only the workshops. A pity, really!

Now that SIPF is over, the next big event to watch out in Southeast Asia is the Angkor Photography Festival. It will be on from 23 Nov to 28 Nov in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The first festival of its kind in SEA, this is its fourth year running. We will be seeing the usual outdoor projections at different locations in Siem Reap. If you are a regular reader, there will be many familiar name presenting at the festival.

An interesting feature this year would be the extension of the festival to Phnom Penh, from 29 Nov to 7 Dec. This would be the first photography festival held in the capital city, with 13 exhibitions and 5 screening events held across the city.

It looks set to be another exciting year. I’m trying to see if I can fit my schedule to fly up for the festival! Anyway, visit the website for more information.

The three-day Southeast Asian workshop kicked off yesterday with contributors such as Pablo Bartholomew, Manit Sriwanichpoom, Robert Blake, Kimmo Lehtonen and Alain Jullien. The aim of the workshop is to guide emerging artists from Southeast Asia towards developing their personal work and professional career as a photographer.

So far, the workshop has been very helpful. It has also been extremely draining as we are taxed mentally and challenged at each step of the way. Yesterday’s topic on developing a personal vision definitely gave me more insights into how different photographers approached their subjects. One take away was that we need to be true to ourselves, listen to our inner voices and think more critically about the work we do.

As talented (ha, don’t we all love being praised) young photographers, we have the power to communicate our ideas through the medium and we need to harness this to create work that is true to ourselves. Many subjects have been done to death. When approaching such a topic, we have to ask ourselves how different can we do it, what our personal view is and how can we express it to the audience. We cannot ignore the power and responsibility of being an artist; boundaries need to be continuously pushed, work needs to get out and be seen by people.

I’m basically tired out after attending the workshop and rushing home to get my school assignments completed (2 tests, 4 projects!). I’m happy for the workshop though, it’s been awhile since my mind has been pried open. I’ve been too lazy for my own photography for the past year leading to the creative slump. I would have to start picking it up again, doing the projects that I like, revisit old ideas, think through new ones and most importantly (my favorite lesson by far), indulge in my work. Pure indulgence at maniac levels would lead to the fullest expression of the soul.

Dinh Q. Le talking about Sarah Cheng-Dewinne’s work (front) as Sherman Ong, Françoise Callier and Pablo Bartholomew discuss work on a laptop (back)

Today was the start of the two-day portfolio review session. It was an intense session for most of the participants as they showed their works to renowned festival directors, curators and photographers from various parts of the world.Here are some pictures from the main exhibition area and the gallery.

In the evening, Diego Ravier from Italy spoke about his work on albinos in African society while Pablo Bartholomew compared his early works with a selection of his father’s legacy. Turnout was not bad with only standing room for both talks.

More tomorrow as the portfolio review continues.

One word to describe the SIPF opening today – amazing!

It’s hard to see so many good works congregated in one area especially in Singapore and I was literally blown away by the quality I saw. There were so many good works on show that it’s hard for me to single out the ones I really liked.

The Birthday Party
© Vee Speers

Vee Speers’ The Birthday Party, a collection of children’s portraits was simply breathtaking.

Companion, (from “Black Flag and Other Stories“)
© Annabel Elgar, 2005

Annabel Elgar’s Black Flag and Other Stories consisted of enthralling odd moments.

Jerarquías de Intimidad la Anunciación
© Luiz Gonzalez Palma

I was also particularly taken by Luiz Gonzalez Palma’s Jerarquías de Intimidad la Anunciación.

There were also works by photographers whom I have featured on the blog. I would try my best to see if I can arrange any interviews in the following weeks. It’s good to see works that I have never seen and to meet these awesome folks.

Kudos to Gwen, Jay and the entire team for the effort put in! I will cover more of the festival as it unfolds. Check back often for updates. Oh, and drop me a mail if you’re in town for the festival.

I think with the amount of work being shown and discussed for the festival, I might just get my groove pretty quickly. Thank you all for your extremely kind comments and concern. =)