Share Tweet Share Share Email Article David Secombe The London Image Festival (the LIF) is back again with its 8th instalment of the best of photography from around the globe. The photo entries, and ultimately the selection of the 2024 LIF reflected both the beauty and wonder of the natural world, and the ongoing conflict in the wars. These two themes dominate the LIF line up.
If photographs could breathe its a selection of the relaxed and the anxious. We live in a time when nature is under threat and that only serves to highlight its intense beauty and that was never more evident than in Jacha Potgieter”s Pelican photograph. Its a shot that breathes a calm sigh.
The reflections on the water of the birds bring about a sense of both majesty and tranquility. Its an amazing photo in the nature selection at the LIF. Isabelle Larsson also photographed a bird just before flight called Lift.
The photo perfectly captured the energy required for a bird to fly ,and left me feeling the full wonder of the natural world. The photo was taken in black and white and assisted the eye to be drawn to the rapid fire of the wings for take off. Much as the London Image Festival favoured the lens focussed on the natural world it also reflected the current tensions that exist in the world today.
With conflict and displacement happening in both Gaza and the Ukraine, it seemed very important to make us the witness to the chaos just beyond our view. Photographs for many of us are our only experience .
