That’s a wrap: Head On Photo Festival 2023

As the curtains close on this year’s Head On Photo Festival, we’re filled with gratitude for your incredible support and enthusiasm over the past three weeks. Together, we’ve celebrated the very best in photography, showcasing the talent of artists from around the globe.

Let’s take a moment to reflect on some of the highlights that made this year truly special:

Installation

In the week leading up to the Launch, our wonderful team began installing the Head On Photo Festival exhibitions. With 6am starts at Bondi Beach, hard work over the weekend at Paddington Reservoir Gardens and TAFE NSW Ultimo, we couldn’t be more grateful for our amazing team of dedicated volunteers!

Interviews

Head On’s Artistic Director Moshe Rosenzveig OAM, and several Featured exhibitors and Awards Finalists discussed the Festival with local and national news outlets, including ABC, Channel 7, Eastside Radio, and The Age.

With 110+ print/online and 90+ television/radio media features in 2023, we are grateful to be able to share the Festival with new audiences.

Festival Launch party

At the Head On Photo Festival launch on Friday, 10 November, in front of a huge crowd, we launched this year’s exhibitions and announced the much–anticipated Head On Photo Awards winners across Portrait, Landscape, Environmental and Student categories who share the $70,000 prize pool.

The night was a huge success, thank you to everyone who attended and celebrated our artists and their photography with us.

Head On Conversations

In the opening weekend of the Festival, we hosted Head On Conversations at TAFE NSW, Ultimo, a series of discussions relating current topics to photography, aimed to provoke, inform and inspire. Experts and photographers spoke on topics including personal style, agency of the subject in photography, and more.

Meet the judges

What makes an image stand out? On Sunday, 12th of November, some of this year’s judges and selectors who blind judged this year’s Head On Photo Awards shared their thoughts about the Awards winners, impactful exhibitions and how the judging process works.

AddOn Opening

It was an amazing night of AddOn participants gathering at Ted’s Cameras gallery, to celebrate this year’s exhibition.

Exhibitions across Sydney

This year, we showcased the talent of 700+ artists from 32 countries across the globe, with photography exhibitions across Sydney.

Vishniac: Live music, screening + Q&A

In collaboration with the Jewish International Film Festival, we had a special event with live music, refreshments, and an incredible documentary about Roman Vishniac, one of the first to use photography as an instrument of documentation, with post-screening Q&A.

Artist Walk & Talk

At our Artist Walk & Talk at Bondi Beach, we got to hear from some of this year’s incredible photographers and Head On Creative Director, Moshe Rosenzveig OAM!

Braving the wet weather, photography enthusiasts gathered to view the exhibitions along Bondi Beach Promenade and discover the backstories and creative processes with photographers Damien Drew, Graham Cordery, Kent Johnson and Talia Greis, and Head On Founder Moshe Rosenzveig OAM.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC COLLABORATION

Royal College of Music composers created new works inspired by a selection of evocative images from the Head On Landscape Awards and Head On Portrait Awards.

This unique concert featured a series of short works for solo, duo and trio ensembles alongside the striking images that inspired them.

Since 2020, Head On has collaborated annually with the Royal College of Music, London, to create new musical works inspired by images from the Head On Photo Awards.

A recording of the concert is available here. You can read more about this year’s collaboration with RCM here.

Looking forward

We couldn’t be more grateful for all those who participated, engaged, and helped us deliver this Festival, you make this Festival so special. Please consider supporting our exhibiting photographers by checking out their webpages; you can view the 2023 exhibitions online here.

Head On Photo Festival 2024 is still up in the air, but we will be looking for diverse, engaging, quality work in all genres across still photography, multi-media, and video art to join the 2024 program. So, make sure to sign up to our mailing list, to be the first to know when submissions open!

And finally… we need your support more than ever.

2024 looks extremely challenging as inadequate public funding, decreased commercial sponsorship and increased costs all contribute to significant uncertainty about the viability of Head On Photo Festival in the future.

By signing our petition, you can extend your support of the Festival so we can continue to do great things in the future. Spread the word if you want to keep the Festival going as it is.

Support us by signing the petition