** Preliminary Final Report ***
PHOTOPIA Hamburg: “These have been four powerful days!”
Festival of Imaging enthrals visitors and brings top stars of photography to Hamburg
Hamburg, 26 September 2021 – With a spectacular debut on the exhibition campus and across
the city, PHOTOPIA Hamburg has generated plenty of enthusiasm and euphoria. The Imaging
scene and community celebrated their urban festival in an array of events, both live on-site and
globally through social media. Well-known stars and artists as well as countless photography
and film enthusiasts were captivated by the spirit of PHOTOPIA Hamburg. Despite the
restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hamburg Messe und Congress set new
standards with this inspiring and innovative event format from 23 to 26 September under the
motto #shareyourvision.
Bernd Aufderheide, President and CEO of Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH, emphasised the
great importance of this new format for the city: “What we have experienced here together with exhibitors
and visitors was truly a feast for the eyes. The concept of celebrating a Festival of Imaging not only on
the exhibition campus but across the entire city has made a strong impression on the industry, the City
of Hamburg and certainly the visitors. Working together with our partners and the industry, we want to
make PHOTOPIA Hamburg grow further. We are already looking forward to next year’s edition.”
Global echo in social media
The honorary patron of the festival, the famous fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth, was among
the keynote speakers, as were fashion photographer Kristian Schuller and the British photographer
Jimmy Nelson who is well-known for his photos of indigenous people. They and others shared their
impressions from PHOTOPIA Hamburg with their online communities via Instagram and on other social
media networks. Many other public figures and numerous visitors followed their example, extending the
reach of Hamburg and the imaging festival across the globe and touching millions of followers. The
journey continues: The makers of the festival have also created PHOTOPIA 365, a networking platform
for the community to continue sharing ideas and images, benefit from exclusive offers, and take part in
workshops.
Multifaceted programme puts the visitor into the centre
With opportunities to touch, test and experience, the festival provided an inspiring environment for
visitors, offering a mixed programme of first-rate, practice-oriented speeches and conferences such
as the Creative Content Conference, impressive technical innovations, and legendary photography
stars. A wide array of exhibitions on the event campus and at many locations throughout the city
had been attracting attention for weeks ahead of the event. At the exhibition halls, the ‘industrial
design’ decoration concept consisting of 350 shipping containers not only paid homage to the port
city but also created new spaces and perspectives for professional photographers and enthusiasts
alike. The many workshops and photo walks as well as the PHOTOPIA XR area dedicated to the
trending topics of Virtual and Augmented Reality where well-visited; in an 800 square metre
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exhibition area, companies, academies as well as next.Reality Hamburg presented unique events
and visual highlights. The debut of PHOTOPIA Hamburg was attended by nearly 10,000 visitors.
Imaging industry impresses with European and world premières
To the participating companies PHOTOPIA Hamburg was a celebration of their trade. Exhibitors
included leading camera manufacturers such as Canon, Leica, Nikon, Panasonic and Sony. Canon
presented a world novelty, the EOS R3 full-frame camera which will be sold from November 2021.
Rainer Führes, CEO of Canon Germany, commented: “In Germany we need a festival dedicated to
the field of Imaging. We have definitely experienced a historic event here and will make this PHOTOPIA
the core meeting place for professional photographers and all others interested in Imaging. Hamburg is
a great city where a lot of things happen. We were present at the inaugural event with a large footprint
which I intend to grow further in future years.”
Autel Robotics presented its high-tech drone Dragonfish for the first time in Europe. The unit is designed
for deployments in many different scenarios such as traffic surveillance, floods, fire fighting or in search
and rescue operations.
Strong praise from the industry
All in all, around 50 exhibitors took part, including companies from China, Belgium, Finland and Poland.
“These have been four powerful days at PHOTOPIA Hamburg. We were thrilled by the atmosphere from
the very first moment, especially seeing the impressive installation of shipping containers which are so
typical of Hamburg. The response from our audience was great; photographers and enthusiasts
approached us to get comprehensive information and advice. PHOTOPIA is a great festival for the
industry, and it celebrated its highly successful debut at just the right time in a fantastic city with a rich
photographic tradition,” emphasised Falk Friedrich, CEO of Leica Camera Deutschland GmbH.
Frederik Lange, Business Head Digital Imaging Sony Deutschland, was similarly enthusiastic:
“Thank you very much, PHOTOPIA, for the courage to realise this successful, refreshing Imaging event
despite the continuing social distancing rules imposed by the pandemic! We truly enjoyed being part of
this debut, presenting our latest products and innovative technologies on site, and sharing views and
experiences with many artists as well as photo and video enthusiasts. We are looking forward to 2022!”
Partners of the event included the Photo Industry Association (Photoindustrie-Verband e.V., PIV), Online
Marketing Rockstars (OMR), and the international Reeperbahn Festival which took place in parallel.
Christian Müller-Rieker, PIV Chairman, said: “PHOTOPIA Hamburg has successfully demonstrated
the importance of these community events for our industry as places of interaction between
manufacturers, retailers, the media, and most importantly, the individual end customer. We are glad to
have been an active contributor as a partner to Hamburg Messe.”
The next PHOTOPIA Hamburg will take place from 13 to 16 October 2022.
Contact:
Christian Freitag,
PR Manager – PHOTOPIA Hamburg
ph.: +49 (0)40 3569-2685, e-mail: christian.freitag@hamburg-messe.de