Katara gets ready for ‘Photography Festival’

Katara – the Cultural Village is gearing up to host the first edition of“Katara Photography Festival” from October 19 to 30. A range ofworkshops and an online competition are part of the event.Katara general manager Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti said that theobjective is to establish and enhance mutual co-operation betweenamateur and professional photographers. The Festival will witness a display of art pieces in the presence of theworld’s leading photographers who are scheduled to share theirexperiences and knowledge with the audience, according to al-Sulaiti. The Festival had its online debut earlier this month where amateur andprofessional photographers have been invited to submit their entriesbased on a given theme. Deadline is October 20. The online competitionrequires participants to submit pictures (taken without filters)captured with their smartphones. The images need to reflect Qatar’s local culture and atmosphere through‘Street Photography’, while being based on the theme ‘Excitement’. Acommittee will choose 20 pictures as the winning entries, which will bedisplayed at one of the galleries and will be open for sale. The proceeds from the sale will be donated to charity while the topthree winners will also receive cash prizes of varying amounts.The exhibition will host five renowned photographers from Qatar,Germany, France, Lebanon, and the Philippines. They will conductworkshops during the weekend on a variety of topics and share theirknowledge with photography enthusiasts. The first edition of theFestival is set to be a one-of-a-kind event, and a memorable one forvisitors and residents of Doha, according to Katara.