Photopia, Cairo’s photography hub and school, is preparing for the second edition of Cairo Photo Week (CPW), which is scheduled to take place between 11 and 20 March 2021. 

This year, the event is expanding to four locations instead of the two that hosted CPW’s first edition in 2018.

A bigger number of exhibitions, discussions, and workshops are included in the upcoming programming, aiming to reach a larger scope of audiences, whether physically in the locations or through dynamic virtual programming.

“Cairo Photo Week is an international artistic and cultural event that seeks to attract and bring together the photography community in Egypt, the Middle East, and Africa through educational lectures, workshops, exhibitions, and various other services,” reads Photopia’s press release.

“It is a regional and international event that bolsters and strengthens the relationship of those who work in the field and helps present new local and regional talents,” comments Marwa Abu Leila, the co-founder and managing director of Photopia, an entity which was founded in 2012.

CPW is especially beneficial for the photographers, visual storytellers, researchers, photo editors, re-touchers, videographers, filmmakers, art directors, fashion directors, food stylists, fashion stylists, CGI artists, set designers, fashion designers, make-up artists, models, and all other image makers.

In its second edition, CPW carries the theme ‘Depth of Field’.

The organisers explained on CPW’s Facebook page that the choice of theme comes “in light of the current global and regional changes that enforced fusions between many photography genres due to either economic reasons or passion related ones. We see that the future of image-making is anti-specialisation; it is more about the skill of making an image now, regardless of its genre.”

Abu Leila added that “this year’s edition of the festival primarily aims to empower domestic and regional photographers and widen their horizons in this field, which has become a highly competitive industry. This will be achieved through a variety of workshops; discussions; and lectures; image critiquing; 350 hours of photography education; and discussions with key commercial photographers, cinematographers, and advertising industry leaders.”

“The festival will constitute 70% learning and 30% exhibitions; open studios; photography services; networking events with speakers; lecturers; as well as local, regional, and international exhibitors who will present the various workshops.”

While numerous events will take place across four historical locations, many activities will be broadcast online, with participants being able to attend them virtually.

Cairo Photo Week will feature 11 diverse workshops and masterclasses led by renowned artists. Each workshop takes 2-4 days depending on the theme tackled. They include:

- ‘Comprehensive Food Photography’ by Yehia El-Alaily.
- ‘The Portrait in Situation’ by Denis Dailleux.
- ‘Exploring your Limits’ Fashion Photography by Louay Nasser, ‘Mobile Photography: From Editorial to Commercial’ by Sherif Ahmed.
- ‘Daring to See the World in a New Way’ by Maggie Steber.
- ‘Shift Your Focus: Project Creation from Concept to Application’ by Karim El-Hayawan.
- ‘In the Moment: Conceptual Portraits’ by Salma El-Kashef.
- ‘Analogue Photography: Shooting, Developing & Scanning Workshop’ by Mohamed Hassan and Ahmed Taha.
- ‘E-commerce Photography Masterclass’ by Gasser Murda.
- ‘Advanced Colour Grading Masterclass’ by Menna Hossam.
- ‘Muse and Aesthetic Fashion Photography’ by Amr Ezz El-Dinn. 

CPW’s first edition took place in 2018 and hosted over 80 Egyptian, regional, and global lecturers and saw the participation of 1,500 visitors, photographers, videographers, cinematographers, and image-makers.

Under the theme ‘Tell Your Visual Story’, the programme of the 1st CPW ran for eight days in the heart of Downtown Cairo at two of its historic buildings: Kodak Passageway and Tamara.

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