If a picture tells a thousand words, Malta Photographic Society’s 59th annual exhibition at Malta Society of Arts in Valletta this month is a veritable library.

It’s a showcase of talent from across Malta in which diverse interests and perspectives are channelled through a lens to capture instants in time.  Blending considerable technical know-how with passion, patience, creativity, and emotion, in each shot, the photographer tells a story.

And underlying each work, you’ll also glimpse the photographer’s own narrative which influences their choice of subject and the way they have decided to frame it.

The result is a stunning exhibition that tells tales from a wide spectrum of human experience, celebrates earthly beauty near and far, and takes the viewer to the heavens.

Woman in a Morrocco Street by Ondre Camilleri

Earl Mallia Manduca is a landscape and astrophotographer whose piece, Star Climber, captures the cosmos in a striking photo of a rock climber on a top rope ascending a cliff at night. It’s an unusual combination of subjects in which a stripe of a galaxy, that glows like volcanic lava, appears to hang alongside the solitary protagonist, while the rock-climber remains firmly tied to the cliff. It’s earthy and it’s celestial; it’s almost secretive and yet equally, if he is reaching for the stars, it’s aspirational.

The night sky appears too in a wry shot of a woman in a Moroccan street by Ondre Camilleri; she seems oblivious to the man-made stars and crescents alongside which she walks. Elsewhere, striking lightening cleaves an indigo sky in two over a fiery orange Mdina (image by Clayton Curmi). Alongside in a simply magical photo of Pawlu’s Field by Ivan Padovani, the moon transforms the rows of crops under polythene into a pattern that seems so textured it could be fabric.

Champalimaud Foundation by John Cilia

The textural presentation is equally important in Tuscany Yellow Palette by Stephen Buhagiar on the same wall. Printed on a gently textured paper, sunflower hues, layered like paint samples, have a warm and welcoming glow.

Others are more visually challenging, and innovative architectural shots include the sensual curves of the Maat Museum in Lisbon, Portugal, to the glorious geometry of Champalimaud Foundation (both by John Cilia), and the dramatic hard lines of Karl Sammut’s Edge of Infinity. In contrast, in Anna Tabone’s photo of a fairytale Alpine home, the emerald squares of its shutters are drawn down into soft pale stripes on the surface of the water below and seem to point at a hidden Atlantis. 

It’s a credit to the photographers that many of these works push your thoughts beyond the static image. In The Climb by Kurt Caruana, behind the stark shapes of Malta’s parliament building, an unassuming man is lost in his thoughts as he quietly ascends the steps of the neighbouring bastion. You can’t help but wonder whether, in addition to being a crisp composition, this is also a gentle commentary on politics and politicians.

Ponte Della Malvasia Vecchia by Ivan Padovani

The question of where steps can lead reappears in Ivan Padovani’s breathtaking photograph Ponte Della Malvasia Vecchia. In one of the exhibition’s standout images, with a timeless storybook magic, Padovani weaves together multiple narrative pathways. The bridge, the boat or the dimly lit passageway: which way would you choose to go first?

In the projected images – and just over half of the images in the exhibition are exhibited on screen rather than as framed works – an attention-grabbing street scene by Pauline Grech has a very different vibe, while a printed image Washing the Dishes, by Angie Conti, transports you to the developing world.

Street Nachos by Stefan Cauchi

A graffiti Uncle-Sam eagle peers over a washing line while a young girl crouches to one side, quizzically looking at you looking at her as she does the domestic chores. For the viewer, standing in a quiet Valletta gallery, it’s a reminder of the difference in people’s lives around the world. Begging the question, who is she, how does she spend the rest of her time, and what might her future look like?

“A portrait should show the soul and individuality of the person, and draw you into their world,” says Ray Lowe, a guest judge and past president of the British Institute of Professional Photographers.

Ondre Camilleri’s Haridwar India matches the viewer’s gaze unapologetically from between his unkempt locks and rough beard while the dreamy child in Angie Conti’s Pondering looks sideways into the distance.

Haridwar India by Ondre Camilleri

Kelma Bejn Tnejn by Daniel Bonello

Mother Earth by Daniel Bonello

Midnight Passage by Karl Sammut

Tree in Three by Mario Mifsud

All Lit Up by Anna Tabone

Alone in the Mist by Mark Scicluna

John Lungaro’s joyful and intimate shot by of Il-Landier is spectacular, showing a tinsmith in an old-fashioned lair in which his jostling wares are so closely packed that the image could be collaged. Elsewhere, a set of four monochrome ‘shopping’ works provide a light commentary on contemporary life. 

Including a minor menagerie in which a tête-a-tête between an ant and a caterpillar and Sushi will raise a smile, and intriguing abstract works too, the collection is a testament to the power of the lens to illuminate, question and inspire.

From the quiet introspection of Mark Scicluna’s Alone in the Mist to the arresting drama of Mario Mifsud’s Tree in Three, and the thought-provoking beauty of Karl Sammut’s Midnight Passage, winner of a new special award for a photo that’s both innovative and unmistakably Malta, the works challenge us to see the familiar in new ways and offer glimpses into lives, landscapes and narratives that are both singular and yet relatable and relevant.

The exhibition runs until December 17. The MSA is open Monday to Friday 9am to 7pm, and Saturdays 9am to 1pm.