Canada’s Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival is the largest photography festival in the world! Photographers and artists flock from all over to attend the festival that has more than 1500 Canadian and international artists at more than 175 venues in the Toronto area throughout the month of May. The festival runs from May 1-31 and the launch party kicks off at The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art at 7pm.
There will be opening receptions for three exhibits. “Part Picture” is a hybrid work exploring the reactions of North American photographers and the presence of digital images. “Past Picture” explores photography in the 19th and early 20th century. “Demolition Site” is an installation piece from Jihuyn Jung. It’s a personal piece exploring losing his childhood home and it tugs at the heart strings. With over 175 venues all over the Toronto area, there’s surely something that will spark your interest.
“Truth and Dare” is a project established in 2011 and explores a series of photography based workshops centering around young Muslim women and their exploration of identity and self-confidence through art. The exhibit runs May 13-23 at Artscape Youngplace. You can check out more information on “Truth and Dare” here.
On May 16th, at Vistek there’s a hands on workshop by Michael Willems focusing on utilizing your flash to the best of your ability. The workshop is from 10-1pm and is $99. The handy flash feature doesn’t get enough credit some times. Here’s a worship on when to use it and when to hold off on that flash. To learn more about the workshop click here.
The most exciting workshop of them all judging by social media would definitely be the three-day Magnum Masterclass led by photographers Larry Towell, Michael Christopher Brown, and Mark Power. The workshop is aimed at photographers with completed work and focuses on book editing. The $750 workshop also lands you a chance to win one of three tuition only scholarships to a Canadian University or college. Want to know more about such an opportunity you’ll have to click here.
The Annual Sociatiabank Contact Photography Festival is an annual event and it showcases so much art. It sounds impossible to go to everything but go to as much as you can. How many people can say they’ve attended the Coachella of the photography world? To learn more about all the exhibits and all thinks festival inspired check out the official site.
