Photography day passes silently in Malawi
This year’s World Photography Day has gone without any official event to mark the day locally.
The day is commemorated on August 19 to celebrate the positive impact that photography brings to communities by bringing millions of photographers together.
In Malawi, the Photographers Association of Malawi (Photama) has been celebrating the day through meetings and sometimes indoor exhibitions of photographs from individual members.
Photama president Lucky Mkandawire said the association did not organise any activity like photo exhibition or formal celebrations due to logistical challenges.
He said: “Some members had an informal gathering to share experiences and consider how best to make the profession better in pursuit of their day to day work but no official function was held.”
Mkandawire said the photography industry is facing numerous challenges ranging from lack of resources to proper training opportunities.
“Despite the challenges which photographers face globally, the industry is growing by the day and the quality of local work has greatly improved over the past years with a number of Malawian photojournalists winning various prizes and are recognised globally,” he said.
“It is high time Malawians appreciated that photography is no longer a mere pastime but a career people must seriously be considering to purse even after their university graduations.”
On the day, thousands of photographers across the planet share photos of their communities, families or culture besides reflecting on the challenges and achievements made.
The first World Photo Day was celebrated in 2010 and since then each year photographers have been commemorating the year reaching out to millions of people across the world through social media with photographs made on the day.
According to Mkandawire, there are around 2 000 professional photographers across Malawi.
The 2017 world photography Day theme is ‘Understanding clouds.’
The first photography day was celebrated on August 19 1839, when the French government bought the patent for the daguerreotype, invented in 1837, and released it to the world for free. n
