IPF Hyderabad 2022: What to Expect 

The Indian Photo Festival (IPF) 2022, South Asia's leading Photography Festival is back with its eighth edition and threw open its doors to the public in a gala opening ceremony. To be held in Hyderabad from 18th November to 19th December for a month, once again IPF has roped in some of the world's renowned names from the photography industry. 

Shri. Srinivas Goud (Minister of Prohibition and Excise of Telangana Overview), Shri Sandeep Kumar Sultania, IAS (Secretary to Government Youth Advancement, Tourism & Culture Department, Govt of Telangana) opened the festival by lighting the lamp in the morning. This was followed by a grand festival opening ceremony in the evening that was attended by the Guest of Honor Dr. Lakshmi, IAS, (Director of State Art Gallery), Mr. Aquin Mathews, Festival Director and Founder Lightcraft Foundation, speakers Gulnara Samoilova (Photographer and Founder of Women Street Photographers, Smita Sharma Photojournalist and Author, Julia Coddington Photographer and Co - Founder of Unexposed Collective, Selvaprakash Lakshmanan Independent Photographer, Tarun Bhartiya Photographer and Film Maker, Sabeena Gadihoke Academic, Curator and Film Maker, Dominique Hildebrand Photo Editor National Geographic and Vineet Vohra Street Photographer.  

IPF is India’s longest running international photo festival and the 8th edition will be presented at the State Gallery of Art, Madhapur, Alliance Francaise, Salar Jung Museum and along the outer walking trail of the KBR Park. The festival will host an array of programs like Artist talks, print and digital photography exhibitions, screenings, workshops and portfolio reviews. Photographers from several countries including India, Canada, US, Poland, Brazil, Switzerland, Australia Japan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Iran, Romania, Germany, Ukrain, France are participating at the photo festival. 

Photography is the best visual medium to sensitize and create awareness about various topical social issues in the world. There's a considerable amount of storytelling every year at the festival which explores the social issues. This year’s exhibit includes the work of Indian photographer Smita Sharma which explores the growing menace of human trafficking, French photographer Ana Bloom's work about the refugee crisis, Italian photographer Diego Fedele's work on the absurdity of war, Australian photographer Matthew Dunne's work on the loss of biodiversity, Indian photographer Nishat Fatima's work on LGBTQia community, Iranian photographer Shaghayegh Moradiannejad's work on the Self-immolation among the Kurdish Women etc.

IPF creates an ecosystem for the photographic community through exhibition opportunities, photography grants, free mentorship programs, access to mentors from Indian and around the world. IPF is a great networking platform for the photographers in India where they get to meet editors, collectors, curators, gallerists from around the world. The festival has facilitated photography grants directly and through its partners to a tune of INR 10 million till now. 

IPF - Hyderabad is a not-for-profit initiative of Light Craft Foundation. It is organized in partnership with Telangana Tourism, Govt. of Telangana and State Art Gallery. The festival celebrates a range of Indian and International photography across all genres and exposes the festival to more than 500,000 people each year, across venues.

The event is free and open to the public.

Festival highlights 2022

Book Launch, Exhibition & Talk by acclaimed and award-winning photojournalist Smita Sharma. Smita’s book ‘We Cry in Silence’ will be launched at the festival followed by a conversation between Sarah Leen (Director of Photography) and Smita (Photojournalist) on 18th Nov Friday 5:30 PM at the State Art Gallery, Hyderabad. 
This is Smita’s first photo book that documents cross-border trafficking of underage girls in South Asia. 

Another key highlight of this festival is a group photography exhibition by 50 Women Street Photographers from across the world that will be exhibited at KBR Park from 18th Nov till 19th Dec 2022. This work is curated by Women Street Photography Founder Gulnara Samoilova. This group exhibition features the work of 50 photographers from 20 countries including Roshani Shah, Sandra Cattaneo Adorno, Mina Noel, Dominique Misrahi, Regula Tschumi, and Ximena Echague among many others. 

In association with National Geographic, this year too IPF is offering FREE Portfolio Reviews for the photographers from India. The reviewers are some of the most sought-after photo editors from the National Geographic Magazine: Dominique Hildebrand (Photo Editor), Smita Sharma (Photojournalist), Srinivas Kuruganti (Photographer and Editor), Sabeena Gadihoke (Academic, Curator and Film Maker), and Julia Coddington (Photographer & Co- Founder Unexposed Collective). IPF has been supported by National Geographic since 2019 in its endeavour to promote photography in India.

Award winning Indian photographer, Srinivas Kuruganti will be conducting a two-day Masterclass on visual story telling. And a three – day Fashion and Portrait Master Class by Manoj Jadhav. 

Street Photography Workshop with Vineet Vohra and Gulnara Samoilova 

A tuition fee free, Editing Workshop with Photo Editor Dominique Hildebrand from National Geographic for emerging and professional photographers who are working on a long-term story or planning to develop their own story.

This year too, IPF has lined up some of the world's leading and iconic photographers. The speaker line-up: Dominique Hildebrand, Sarah Leen(virtual), Smita Sharma, David Y. Lee(virtual), Sabeena Gadihoke, Gulnara Samoilova, Selvaprakash, Tarun Bhartiya, Shweta Upadhyay, Hari Katragadda, Julia Coddington and Sana Ullah(virtual).  

IPF - Hyderabad is a not-for-profit initiative of Light Craft Foundation. It is organized in partnership with Telangana Tourism, Govt. of Telangana and State Art Gallery. The festival celebrates a range of Indian and International photography across all genres and exposes the festival to more than 500,000 people each year, across venues.