This festival is one of the foremost held in the UK, featuring a wide range of activities including exhibitions, talks, tutorials, workshops and events. Spending time in Derby might not be your idea of fun but having such a huge range of photographic events in place for just one month might convince you to stay. The one thing that is irritating is their website, I am sure they think it looks very pretty and hip but it is a problem to navigate around. Spending time clicking to try and find venues listed is not my idea of a good website.
Established in 2004 by Louise Clements and Mike Brown, the biennale festival celebrates the wealth of contemporary practice in international photography and is now one of the UK’s leading non-profit international contemporary festivals of photography and related media.
FORMAT is focused on developing opportunities to platform the work of international photographers and to provide links for local/national practitioners to show work, exchange opportunities, skills and knowledge and for audiences to see, debate, develop and engage in the best of what photography is and can be.
8th March – 7th April
Here are just a few of the events.
Walk and photo workshop with a photographer. Start at QUAD, learn street photo skills and explore the theme of Factory. End at the Chocolate Factory where a selection of your work will be exhibited as part of Derby At Work.
QUAD
Dates and Times 14. 21, 28 March & 4 April 13:00 -16:00 & 18:30 – 20:30 Cost: Free
Venue The Photo Parlour Dates and Times 9, 16, 23, 30 March & 6 April 10:00 – 14:00 Cost: £23/17
Talk led by Guardian Head of Photography Roger Tooth and award-winning Guardian photographers, with a focus on photojournalism, editing and the range of photography in newspapers today. Portfolio reviews by Guardian editors and photographers: bring your portfolio, join in the discussion or just come to listen.
Venue QUAD Dates and Times 16 March 11:00 – 16:00 Cost: £20
A two day intensive workshop conceived for people interested in publishing their own photography book run by Self Publish, Be Happy founder Bruno Ceschel.
Venue QUAD Dates and Times 23 & 24 March 11:00 – 17:00 Cost: £210
To see all of the events go to the FORMAT International Photography Festival website here
Oxford School of Photography 