Alt-Photo Festival 2013

Overview of the Edinburgh Alt-Photo Festival 2013

28 February -12 March 2013Organised by Edinburgh artists Kenny Bean and Susanne Ramsenthaler, this festival brings together eighteen photographers across three venues in Edinburgh accompanied by practical workshops and talks by the artists.The main venues involved this year are the Botanic Garden, Edinburgh College of Art and Stills Gallery.All of the workshops and events are free or highly subsidised and are open to everyone from experienced photographers to total beginners.“With such a history of photography in the capital it was just natural that the city should have its own photography festival so we decided to create one. When I heard that plans to create a Scottish National Museum of Photography had fallen through it gave me the inspiration to start the festival”The Edinburgh Pinhole Photography Festival in 2012 was the first festival and centred around the most basic form of photography using an old box and a piece of light sensitive paper. This year the Alt Photo Festival widens the area of interest to include many more photographers using a wide variety of chemical and film based photography.“We want to create a festival with a very relaxed atmosphere where photographers can come along and share their work and their techniques with each other in informal spaces. “This year the Edinburgh Art College has joined the festival and is showing a large exhibition with several photographers and also holding a symposium on Saturday 9th March where people can come along and hear more about alt photography from the artists who practice it themselves.Stills Gallery will be running a fascinating workshop from 4th -8th March daily where people can learn the process of making pinhole photographs using colour paper developed in the Stills darkrooms. Pinhole cameras use a tiny hole instead of a lens to project an image onto a piece of light sensitive paper.Download the altphoto-flyer-onlineMore information on the artists exhibiting can be found on the website at www.altphoto.co.uk