The exhibition which tours the UK showcases a huge variety of styles and genres, from the artistic to documentary, from portraiture to natural history. Innovative, cutting edge work can be seen alongside traditional prints, and this is what makes this exhibition so unique within the photographic world. The annual touring exhibition has been running for over 150 years, making it the longest standing exhibition of its kind. The exhibition is highly influential and has acted as a spring board for many aspiring photographers to launch their careers and achieve recognition.
Photographs for the exhibition were selected from over 3000 submissions by both professional and amateur photographers and were chosen by leading photographers including landscape photographer Joe Cornish and Documentary and Fine Art photographer Edmund Clark. Joe Cornish said, “we were all drawn to images that exhibited fine print quality and what might broadly be described as timeless photographic values: atmosphere, a feeling of connection, clarity and simplicity, wit, intelligence and above all, a strong narrative. Our winning images had these qualities in abundance.” Notable photographs include Sue Flood’s exquisite photograph of Crabeater Seals in Antarctica and Chen Junjie’s Practice Hard, a compelling composition of very young but determined ballerinas. Jane Matthews, one the exhibition’s organisers for Shetland Arts said “we are privileged to be hosting a leg of this international exhibition with so many incredible images coming to us from photographers from all over the world. The gallery is totally stuffed with photographs, which is a very exciting start to our new gallery programme for the year. "The exhibition marks a change in the structure of exhibitions at Bonhoga, with seven shows per year enabling each one to run to run for longer and have a larger budget allocated to it. This means we are able to offer a more diverse range of interesting shows."
