The Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival (KLPF) is the hottest and biggest imaging event in Malaysia and possibly Southeast Asia. As travel and photography always go hand-in-hand, the KLPF also include activities in the travel section. Each year photographers and travellers converge at the KLPF to attend the seminars from industry leaders, interact with experts, build new relationships, experience new products and win attractive prizes.
New programs are introduced from time to time to add value the festival. From year 2010, the organisers introduced the KLPF Photo-creator of the Year Award, a biennial event to recognise and promote emerging photographers from Malaysia. Since 2012, the travel section is given more prominence with dedication to travel, that is, the (FITE) Free Independent Travel Exchange. Packed with interactive programs, the FITE is the platform for travel industry operators/organizations to engage with travellers.The first KLPF was held on 14-November 1997 and has since become an annual event to look forward to. The KLPF & FITE is open to the public and admission is free.
KLPF/FITE is organised by PCP Publications – the publisher for photography and travel magazines – Photo Creator, Advanced Images, Fotografika, Travelmate and Travelution.
Event Date: 07-09 October 2016
Venue: StarXpo Centre, 15th Floor, Kenanga Wholesale City
Past Event –
Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival 2015
The 19th edition of the Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival 2015 drew an amazing crowd of more than 79K visitors to the 3-day festival held on 09-11 October at the Mid Valley Exhibition Centre. The KLPF 2015 was a roaring success with more than RM1.5 million sales transacted over the 3-day event.
The opening ceremony of the KLPF 2015 was officiated by YB Elizabeth Wong, the Selangor State Exco for Tourism, Environment, Green Technology and Consumer Affairs; who is also an avid photographer. Joining her on stage to drum up the festival were Paul Ho (Fujifilm Malaysia Senior Director); Mitsuhiro Tanaka (Olympus Malaysia Business Development Manager); Dickson Lee (Epson Malaysia Senior Manager); Puan Noorul Ashikin (Tourism Selangor General Manager); Ahmad Mad-Adam (Tourism Authority of Thailand Director); David Tsao (Taiwan Tourism Bureau Director); See Tho Chee Seong (Photobook Malaysia Business Development VP) and Kim Teoh (Founder of KLPF). The opening of KLPF 2015 was drummed to a roaring start with the spectacular performance by Hands Percussion.
The main theme exhibition of the year was “Smile to the World” which received submissions from photographers 10 countries with a mission to make the world a better place. The invitational photo exhibition “Spirit of IndoChina” depicts the scenes of travels in the IndoChina region, encountering the history, legends, rustic charms and warmth of the people.
In conjunction with the launching of PCP’s new book title “Defying the Mystics. The epic journey on-board Trans-Siberian Railway”; the contributing photographers also exhibited their artwork created in this challenging the mystics of this century old railway route.
“KLPF International Photography Dialogue” takes centre stage this year with the 2nd session on “KL As I See It – Kampung Baru the last village in central KL”. Jamason Chen (USA), Dr. Oh Soonhwa (Korea), Dr. Alex Wong (Malaysia/Turkey), Wang Chih-Hong (Taiwan) and Yang ZiXiong (Malaysia) – the five international photographers who individually specialise in different genres presented their impression of this unique village through their eyes. It was a very impressive insight and interesting discussion on an international level.
The KLPF Photo Review session was a great opportunity for emerging photographers to have their work reviewed by experts in this industry like Jamason Chen, Dr. Oh Soonhwa and Dr. Alex Wong. This year also saw an increase in participation by various secondary schools (local and international) as the KLPF aims to motivate and nurture our youths to pursue photography as a living skill or as a career.
Participating in the Free Independent Travel Exchange (FITE) program are the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Taiwan Tourism Bureau, Sabah Tourism, Tourism Selangor and various tourism industry operators from Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia were actively promoting travels as the partner of photography.
Travelmania and Photomania – the seminars and presentations have remained the favourite programs sharing knowledge and experiences with photographers and travellers.
The final round of the KLPF Model Shoot Challenge League saw 10 finalist photographers compete against one another to be the champion. The shortlisted photographers had to shoot and submit a total of 12 images based on 4 topics. The prestigious title of league champion was awarded to Hamlito A. Nocete from Ipoh.
The 2016 Kuala Lumpur MITM Travel Fair is to be held at Mid Valley Exhibition Centre. The organizer Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association has said they expect to attract over 80,000 visitors to the fair. Admission to the travel fair is free.
