13.-30.9.2025

10th jubilee Maribor Photography Festival on its way 

It started the way it always starts: let’s go! And we started with the number 1, ten years ago. No experience, no resources, but a lot of will. The members of the Maribor Photography Club got together and at the end of October we could only conclude: we did it!

We put the 1st Maribor Photography Festival under one roof, with participants coming from the ranks of Maribor Photography Club. And as the visitors said, it’s not bad, but we knew it could have been better. But the most important thing was that we gained valuable experience, which we built on in the following years.

Year after year the festival has grown, with a top-notch lineup of local and international photographic artists, established both at home and abroad. They came from different countries, used different photographic techniques and showed different motifs. And it was this diversity that challenged many photographers to try something similar for themselves, to improve their knowledge, to try different ways of looking through the lens of photography.  Which means that the festival acted as an encouragement to all those who love photography, whether they are professional or amateur photographers, or just passers-by who like to take good photos with their mobile phones. And believe me, there were not a few of them, as the festival was held in 15 to 20 exhibition spaces throughout the years. Which means that the number of visitors to the galleries has been extremely high.

The main prize, of course, was given to us by the visitors, the ones who made this festival happen in the first place, when they said; great, don’t give up! And we didn’t.

And so a new festival, a reprise of the first one, is at the door. Except that we are a little older and 10 festivals more experienced, not to say wiser.

Why a reprise? Because only members of the Maribor Photography Club will participate in this festival. So that they can put their work on display, so that the visitors can evaluate it, so that the people of Maribor and of course others can see the progress of the members’ photography. I dare to say that it is great, but of course we also accept criticism, because every eye sees differently, because all viewer’s perceptions are different. So, criticism, whether positive or negative, is welcome, because it is only criticism that changes the way forward. Of course, we want criticism with a concrete suggestion of what needs to be changed, how it can be done, and how the “critic” is willing to help in the implementation of his ideas.

In any case, welcome to all the exhibitions, each one is a photographic learning experience. Enjoy reading it.

And to all other photographers: join us, together we will be even stronger.

For Maribor Photography Club

vice president

Kacafura EFIAP/s