Youth In Pictures

You(th) in Pictures was a youth exchange that took place between the 22 and 28 June 2019. 25 people from Poland, Italy, Bulgaria, Portugal, and Hungary met in Rzeszów to learn about photography under the expert eye of Hungarian photographer Soma Gergő Szebellédi.

The participants were challenged to create a whole photo exhibition which was later exhibited at a vernissage organized at the Rzeszów Art Exhibition Office.

The project was initiated and coordinated by us, in cooperation with Agrupamento de Escolas de Vilela from Portugal, Centre Youth Association from Hungary, Bulgarian Youth Forum from Bulgaria and Young Effect Association from Italy.

In the following section Aleksandra Szurlej, one of our participants, gives her overview of the exchange:

“During the first day, we had a chance to get to know each other and make first acquaintances, learn something about the rest of the participants.

We spent the afternoon exploring the surroundings. Our main challenge was to conduct short interviews with the passersby, related to the problems young people face these days. It formed the basis of our future activities.

The collected material let us have a discussion about the challenges the world and society put in front of the youth.

We exchanged our observations and formulated the keynote of our vernissage. In the afternoon, we started acquiring theoretical knowledge about photography.

The following part of the lecture let us systematize our knowledge of proper photo shooting, in the second half of the day we had an opportunity to try our hand at this topic. We took some pictures walking down the Rzeszów market square.

The fourth day was spent on preparation for our pictures and also taking them. Everybody had a chance to be a model as well as a photographer. We had to select photos and edit them. Under the professional eye of a Hungarian photographer, we had a chance to improve them. After lunch, we talked about the details of our vernissage. We spent the evening at the Open Café event.

The printed photographs were put in the frames, that could be seen during our vernissage. Some of us were responsible for promoting our exhibition, by inviting people of Rzeszów or distributing leaflets. The rest focused on the details related to the course of the vernissage. The evening was highly satisfying, our photos aroused the interest of visitors.

We went to see the Łańcut Castle, where the scenery allowed us to take more photos. After returning, we summarized the whole week of our work”.

More photos from the You(th) in Pictures youth exchange can be viewed here. Here is the photo gallery from our vernissage, which took place at the Rzeszów Art Exhibition Office.

Local media has written about our exhibition.