Alberta 1 (2012) by Calgary photographer Dianne Bos was part of the 10th anniversary Exposure Photography Festival at Calgary's Newzones Gallery in February 2014.
The Exposure Photography Festival is expanding across Alberta for its next edition in February 2015.
For the past 10 years, the festival has been focused exclusively on Calgary, Banff and Canmore.
Now, submissions for the month-long festival are now being sought from artists and galleries across the province.
“We’re trying to create a nurturing environment for the photographic community throughout Alberta,” says festival manager Wes Lafortune.
In addition to highlighting exhibitions of photography, the festival also gathers together workshops, lectures and other special events related to the medium.
“We have an emerging photographers’ showcase open to all photographers 30 and under in the province,” Lafortune says. “What we’ve seen through that is a development process. [At the festival], local photographers can go to a lecture by Mary Ellen Mark or Larry Towell; these are opportunities you don’t necessarily get every day in Calgary.”
Already a couple of Edmonton participants are confirmed, including the artist-run centre Harcourt House and the photographer Larry Louie.
Exposure engages tens of thousands of people annually, Lafortune says, and he hopes that in opening it up to Alberta’s 4 million residents, even more can be reached.
“When Exposure was first founded about 10 years ago, there really wasn’t a photography festival in Western Canada,” Lafortune says. “I think what we’ve done is provide a forum for all kinds of different artists to show their work, and to bring photography to a potential public.”
