The Malta Photographic Society is currently organising a collective photographic print exhibition at the Wignacourt Museum in Rabat.

This year’s celebration of photography, which has become an annual feature in the Society’s calendar of events, involves the participation of no less than 52 distinct Malta based photographers, with each photographer exhibiting one of his or her best works.

The exhibition is being held as part of the global photography celebration held annually on August 19.

World Photography Day is celebrated annually on this day to commemorate the invention of the ‘Daguerreotype’, a photographic process developed by Louis Daguerre in 1837. This process revolutionised the way images were captured and preserved, laying the foundation for modern photography.

This discovery was officially announced by the French Government as a ‘gift to the world’ on August 19, 1839.

It is for this reason that August 19 was the day chosen to celebrate World Photography Day. However, the idea of a global day to celebrate photography was a rather recent initiative which goes back to late 1980s. The first observance of World Photography Day happened in 1991 and this celebration began to trend in a significant way online since 2005.

Today, every World Photography Day is marked annually around the world through photo-related events such as exhibitions, social events, workshops, photo walks and by having people around the world sharing their photography on social media.

The collective photographic exhibition runs at the Wignacourt Museum, Rabat till August 30. It may be viewed from Monday to Saturday between 9.30am to 5pm with last entrance being accepted at 4.15pm.