Photography is the science, art, application and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation; either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically, by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film.  Photography is applied in many fields of science, manufacturing and business; as well as its more direct uses for art, film and video production, recreational purposes, hobby, and mass communication… Some of the most popular genres of photography include:

• Candid Photography - A candid photograph is a photograph captured without creating a posed appearance. This is achieved in many ways, for example: when the subject is in motion, by avoiding prior preparation of the subject, by surprising the subject and by not distracting the subject during the process of taking photos.
• Landscape Photography - Landscape photography shows spaces within the world, sometimes vast and unending, but other times microscopic; landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on man-made features or disturbances of landscapes.
• Portraiture Photography - Portrait photography is a photograph of a person or group of people that capture the personality of the subject by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses; a portrait photo might be artistic, or it might be clinical as part of a medical study.

On the 18th March 2018, I and my mum attended a local photography exhibition, which I decided to review for my silver Arts Award… This is the first time I have visited a photography exhibition and this exhibition was a collection of work produced by local photographers, people who inspire to become photographers and are trying to start their career or people who just enjoy photography as a hobby…

The entry of this exhibition was free and the volunteers that attended to show their own work were polite and handed out many pieces of their own work, such as key rings and their work framed. The prices of their products varied, with some of their work costing between £10 and £30 for the viewers of the exhibition…

When me and my mum walked in, the first thing we saw was amazing wildlife and flower photographs and to our left was landscape photos of London and the tourist attractions of London; as we walked through the hall, many wildlife photographs caught our eyes and we were surprised at the amount of effort some photographers put into capturing some great photos! Once we had reached the end of the hall, there was one specific photographer that attracted my attention, and this photographer has travelled to many countries, taking photos of famous cities for magazines! These cities varied but the specific photographs that stood out to me were the photos of New York that were shown, the bright orange and red sunsets falling behind the Empire State Building and the vivid yellow taxis in Time Square just caught my eye! After completing a first round of the exhibition and collecting many contact cards to add into my Arts Award book, I and my mum completed another round of the exhibition, talking to the local photographers about their experiences and I told them about my experiences and where I want to go within the field of photography... After discussing my plans with these other photographers, I felt more aware about a career path in photography, especially after talking to the photographers that travel and take photos as this is the path that I want to follow within photography.

As we walked through the exhibition, we observed a few photo-manipulations on display, it was great to see these incredible pieces on display as a part of the photographic community and that they were being valued at the same level as tradition photography; we also observed many photographers using Photoshop to edit their photos, it was enjoyable to observe them editing their photos as I have never understood how to work Photoshop, so I feel like I was understanding how this software can work!

Overall, the exhibition was filled with astounding photographers and photographs that were worth looking at! As a person who has never been to a photography exhibition before this, I felt like this was a great first experience and it was more than I expected. As it was only a local exhibition, I wasn't expecting many photographers to show up as the event information wasn't distributed around the local area a lot, however, the exhibition did showcase some great photography talent and even some photography genres I may have never thought of or have not even experienced yet!