Hereford Photo Festival 2010

The longest standing festival of photography in England and the only one in a rural location. It presents and promotes documentary-based photography through exhibitions, seminars, workshops and community arts development.

By combining exhibitions and commissions from contemporary photographers, workshops, innovative artist-led socially engaged projects and opportunities for debate on current issues, the festival aims to promote photography which comments on and raises questions about cultural and social issues, particularly as they affect rural communities.

Entry to all exhibitions is free. Programme details can be found here.

Frequent trains from London Paddington take approx. three hours to reach Hereford. Hereford is 60 miles from Birmingham and Bristol, close to the English-Welsh border.

Conference
This year’s conference will examine the raison d’etre of photography festivals and take place over the opening weekend of 29th – 31st October.

Photography and Hereford – A Short History
Hereford has a long history of photography, starting with the founding of the Herefordshire Photographic Society in 1885 by Alfred Watkins - the inventor of the first light meter. They mounted two significant international exhibitions including an Anglo American Salon of Photography in 1943 and a unique exhibition of Anglo-Russian photographs in 1944.

The Hereford Photography Festival was started by local photographer Dave West and one-time Rolling Stone photographer Al Vandenberg who both settled in Hereford in the 1980s.