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"My Amazing Latvia" Photo Exhibition at SC Spice

National Geographic appears to have got really fired up this year and, in the form of its TV channel, has put on yet another exhibition featuring works by Latvian photographers - "My Amazing Latvia". Overall, from the broad concept of "nature", the authors chose to depict only flora in their photographs, with rare exceptions where the dominant subject of the composition was either a person or an animal.

National Geographic appears to have got really fired up this year and, even in the form of its TV channel, has put on yet another exhibition featuring works by Latvian photographers. The exhibition "My Amazing Latvia" can be seen at SC Spice (on Lielirbes Street) from 4 to 18 March.

The exhibition was created as a follow-up to a competition announced some time ago on the same theme, to which anyone interested could submit their work. Admittedly, this fact was rather disconcerting when going to see the exhibition in person. Be that as it may, the best works were selected by a jury (whose composition is kept in deep secrecy), and while the jury will also choose the nominees for first place, any self-appointed "expert" can take part in the voting on the Facebook page.

In total, 26 works are exhibited, in A2 format. This time too the exhibition curators have not seen to any arrangement based on any logical principles - though given the unifying theme, this was not a hindrance on this occasion. Admittedly, if one were to choose a single best work, the "switching" between different photography genres would be laborious. It also appears that the photographers approached the matter from an emotional angle, and for the most part chose their works based on moods and emotions - which, it must be said, given the venue of this exhibition (a shopping centre!), is a major plus and an asset.

It is hard to judge how many works were submitted and met the theme and technical criteria, but only 26 are on display simultaneously in physical format. 43 have been posted for voting on the Facebook page. The display may change - there is no information on this, however.

Overall, from the broad concept of "nature", the authors chose to depict only flora in their photographs, with rare exceptions where the dominant subject of the composition was either a person or an animal. Walking along the rows of displayed photographs, I occasionally caught myself studying the photographs used in the surrounding shopping centre interior - which, I must say, as an outsider and a comparatively uninformed viewer of art and photography, seemed rather odd and perhaps indicated a weak photographic moment in the works. For the most part, the works featured technically high-quality depiction of the second and third planes; very few works showed a distinct foreground subject and staffage. Under the impression of National Geographic's high-calibre photographic works, I found myself wanting to spot a moment in these photographs too, yet for the most part it was mood that dominated. Some works did, however, stand out from the general colour patchwork by virtue of a distinct motif, moment, subject, symmetry, or other eye-catching aspect: