Innovative and compelling images from photographers across the country will be featured at the Dunedin Photographic Society’s 50th Dunedin Festival of Photography which opens next weekend with an awards night on Saturday, June 3 and the opening of the exhibition at the Dunedin Community Gallery on June 4.
Dunedin Photographic Society president Gary McClintock said when the first exhibition was held in 1968, entries were in black and white and were carefully printed from film in a darkroom.
Now the majority of images were processed using a computer and programmes such as Lightroom, and no film, photographic paper or chemicals involved.
"Regardless of process, the standard remains high."
Dunedin Photographic Society life member Craig McKenzie said the festival ran biennially in the early years. This was the 50th since the first one in 1968.
The organising committees over the years were innovative, and Dunedin was the first society in the country to allow files from digital cameras to be entered in the slide section, he said.
Committee member Dr Melanie Dick said members recently visited the Hocken Collections to view some of the entry catalogues from previous years.
The first 30 or so catalogues were already in the collection, and members had unearthed more recent catalogues and were planning to give these to the collection so a full record of every year was preserved.
The society had been mindful of recent discussions regarding artificial intelligence and its ability to create digital images, and it had made adjustments to its competition rules to exclude AI-generated photographs, Dr Dick said.
- The 50th Dunedin Festival of Photography exhibition is open from June 4 to June 11, from 10am to 6pm, at the Dunedin Community Gallery.
