Beautiful Luxembourg by the attendees of the photography workshops of the Polish Culture Festival as well as the members of the CIEL Club

The Castle of Bourscheid
Vernissage: Sunday, September 23, 15:00

Photography exposition, which we would like to show you, is the culmination of the intense work of the participants of the photography workshops and plein-airs led by Irek Graff in 2015 and 2016. Some of the authors are clearly beginners (or were at the time!), while others were experienced with a rich and interesting portfolio. On the photos you will discover parts unknown of Luxembourg, or perhaps a perfectly recognisable country but shown in an unrepeatable way. Due to the theme of the workshops led by Irek Graff, the dominating works of the participants are that of landscapes and natural or architectural details.
As the main priority of the Festival of Polish Culture is to create bridges between Poland and Luxembourg, we invited the Luxembourgish EU Institutions Photography Club (CIEL) to cooperate on the creation of this exposition.
The theme ‘Beautiful Luxembourg’ wouldn’t seem out of place on a calendar or on a tourism agency ad. Which was why I wasn’t in favour of this title. We didn’t take pictures with that aim, or with that theme in mind. The beginners tried to identify the photography equipment and to simply take a good picture. I taught them sensitivity and accuracy. I often repeated that you can take a good, honest and worthy picture even nearby, such as in the attic, beyond the fence, in front of the house. There isn’t a need to go to some far off, exotic land.
Different beauty has limits and definitions. Each era, culture, every art direction or philosophy sees it differently. Since ancient times, philosophers argue whether beauty is a real characteristic of various objects, or only our imagination, our evaluation. In ancient, mostly due to Plato, objectivism dominated- beauty was connected to mathematics, harmony and the proportions of specific parts. In the new age, subjectivism and scepticism are on the rise.
We divide intellectual and sensuous beauty, natural beauty as well as that created by man. A mayor may see it and create beauty through innovation differently than a graphics designer, a gardener, a musician, a poet, an architect or… a photographer. But of course, which photographer? 😊
The English phrase says; “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” But is it only there? We can certainly find beauty in the eyes of a child and the heart of a mother when she looks at her child lovingly. Were we able to convey and show any beauty of Luxembourg in these photos, despite that our plein-air’s and our meetings in this country were so short? I don’t know… Please check that yourselves. I invite you to the exposition 😊

IRENEUSZ GRAFF
Photographer, teacher, graphics designer, creator of multimedia presentations. Plein-air, exposition, competition, festival of photography of nature organiser and among others, the originator and creator of the Wizje Natury (Visions of Nature) and Foto Natura ZPFP (Photo Nature) festivals as well as the director of each edition up until 2007.
President of the Okręg Mazowiecki Związku Polskich Fotografów Przyrody (ZPFP, Society of Polish Nature Photographers in the Mazowiecki district) from 1994-2004, president of ZPFP from 2004-2007. Organiser and lecturer of almost 80 editions of stationary, correspondence or plein-air photography courses since 2004 as part of his own project ‘Fotokursownia’ as well as for other subjects.
Lover of blues and jazz. Music manager and producer for the CD Magda Piskorczyk: Afro Groove, Mahalia, Magda Live.
www.fotokursownia.com

LIST OF AUTHORS PRESENT THEIR PHOTOGRAPHS AT THE EXPOSITION:
Ireneusz Graff (curator, leader of the plein-air/workshops)
Magda Ziembowska
Łukasz Koźma
Marcin Wierzbicki
As well as members of CIEL:
Katarzyna Ziembowska
Maciej Markiewicz
Nikos Zompolas
György Papp
Arnaud Pivet
Orit Israelson

Curator of the exhibition: Ireneusz Graff
The exhibition will take place til November 4

In association with: