The Angkor Photography Festival 2007 sees the temples of Angkor become a hub for both famous and passionate photographers from across the world. The Festival covers two genres, “concerned” documentary photography and fine art photography, organizes free workshops for emerging Asian photographers, and runs workshops for street children, amongst other endeavours. The Angkor Photography Festival is held from November 17th - 28th, at Siem Reap in Cambodia.

Angkor Photography Festival Press Release

3rd edition - November 17th - 28th, 2007 - Siem Reap - Cambodia

The Angkor Photography Festival, the first of its kind in Asia, was created in 2005 by Gary Knight, Christophe Loviny and Jean-Yves Navel. This year, for the third time, the temples of Angkor will become a hub for both famous and passionate photographers from across the world.

The strong educational goals of the Angkor Photography Festival sets it apart from other photography events. Here, the participants contribute their art and their time, demonstrating that photography can change lives. The Angkor Photography Festival organizes free workshops for emerging Asian photographers, and plans to expand by creating a permanent school. In addition, it runs workshops for street children, and has created the Anjali center in Siem Reap to provide them basic schooling and art education.

The festival’s program cuts a broad swathe through the world of photography in Asia and plays host to two established genres: “concerned” documentary photography and fine art photography. This year, the festival presents this part of the world through the eyes of photographers from Europe (Patrick Aventurier, Agnès Dherbeys, Olivier Föllmi, Benoît Gysembergh, Jeff Hargrove, David Hogsholt, Hans Silvester, Goksin Sipahioglu, and John Vink), the United States (James W. Delano, Ron Haviv, Stuart Isett, Stephanie Sinclair and John Stanmeyer), China (Zhao Guomin, Zhang Xinmin, James Zeng Huang), India (Palani Mohan, Altaf Qadri, Dr Vivek M.) Thailand (Suthep Kritsanavarin), Singapore (Sean Lee, Chris Yap), Korea (Lee Sung-Eun, Noh Suntag) Japan (Michael Yamashita), Taiwan (Chin Cheng Tsai), Indonesia (Kemal Jufri, Toto Santiko Budi), and Bangladesh (Munem Wasif), to cite a few.

Free Workshops for Young Asian Photographers
For the third consecutive year, the Angkor Photography Festival will host free workshops by reknowned photographers. Philip Jones Griffiths, as well as Roland Neveu, Benoit Gysembergh, Patrick de Noirmont, Antoine d’Agata and Suthep Kritsanavarin have volunteered to tutor a selection of 30 young
photographers from China, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines. Canon and Apple will provide equipment and software.

A center for street children
What started out as photography and dance workshops for street children during the first Angkor Photography Festival in 2005 has now evolved into a sustainable project aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty. The Angkor Photo Association founded Anjali, a center which currently provides daily care and
education to local street children, many of whose parents are landmine victims or suffer from AIDS.

The successful practice of photography and dance as therapy for the street children has led to the creation of a vibrant dance troupe. A show is performed publicly once a week and a book will be published in 2007 with the children’s photographic work.

www.angkorphotofestival.com
www.flickr.com/photos/angkorphotographyfestival

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Adam Ferguson

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