18 December 2019

Creativity of Canberra Instagrammers comes to the fore in animal photo exhibition

| Glynis Quinlan
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‘Fingerlings’ photo by Mark Jekabsons @markjek

A tiny fish jumping in the air and two emus sharing a drink are among the scenes captured in some stunning animal photography which is being exhibited at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre this month.

The new photography exhibition is entitled ‘Feathers, Fur and Fins’ and is the work of members of Instagrammers Canberra – known as @igerscanberra.

The free exhibition features 20 digital photographic prints ranging from close-up to abstract and showcasing a wide variety of species.

‘Sharing is Caring’ photo by Bhaumik Bumia @bb_clickz

@igerscanberra was established in 2011 by Yasmin Element and is the Canberra arm of a global network of community-based photography social media groups on Instagram, all of which operate under the @igers umbrella.

The group aims to actively promote the work of photographers in the region and regularly runs themed photography projects to inspire community members.

The ‘Feathers, Fur and Fins’ project involved an open call out to the #Igerscanberra community to post their images of fauna in order to gain the opportunity to be part of the exhibition. @igerscanberra also facilitated an ‘Instameet’ at Jerrabomberra Wetlands to inspire photography for the show.

‘Homecoming’ photo by Spencie Spence @spenciespencephotography

The @igerscanberra moderators had to choose from more than 300 submissions that were worthy of being in the exhibition and said: “We hope the 20 photographers featured in this exhibition are a good representation of the varied way our social photography community looks at a themed challenge”.

‘Looking Out’ photo by Elizabeth Stanton @daisyduds

Tuggeranong Arts Centre’s Visual Arts Manager Narelle Phillips said that having a group like Instagrammers Canberra put on an exhibition ensured that there was a very diverse range of interpretations of the topic.

“The response to ‘animals’ is surprisingly broad. People are actually focusing in on smaller creatures and insects as well as taking the theme beyond expected interpretations of animal photography,” Ms Phillips said.

‘Lambie in the Sky with Diamonds’ photo by Angel Nash @perceptive.pineapple

“I like the idea of iPhonography and Instagram as a platform because it is very accessible and highly popular. It is great to be encouraging anyone and everyone to look creatively at the world around them.”

‘Untitled’ photo by Michael Briguglio @meeklay

The exhibition at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre will be open until Saturday, October 28. Six photos from the exhibition are shown in this article but you can see all of the 300+ images submitted for the show by searching the #IgersCanberraFFF hashtag on Instagram.

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