The exhibitions included academic works created by the world's top curators, artists, photographers, and organizations from different levels both at home and abroad.

Nicholas Henry, from France, participated in the theme exhibition "Codes of Earth Today" focusing on human existence. And Masato Seto, from Japan, brought his work "Cesium" to show the changes and aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011.

Upholding the event's conceptual focus of "international, academic and mass", the contributors were not only renowned masters but also emerging new faces and normal everyday shutterbugs.

A "Taking a photo with Lishui" interaction activity welcomed all citizens to participate in the event through taking photos in urban areas.

Fu Yongjun, curator of the "Seven Alleys" exhibition, said that he wanted to form real relationships between the exhibition and the locals' real lives. The exhibition showed seven touching stories of local residents and was set in the alleys and houses where the stories happened. The exhibited works included records of life in the alleys and poems and photos created by alley residents.

Poems created by alley residents are part of the "Seven Alleys" exhibition mounted during the third International Photography Symposium and 2019 Lishui Photography Festival, which opened on Nov 8, 2019. The exhibition features real life in the alleys through books, poems, photos taken by the locals themselves, installation arts and a documentary film. [Photo by Xiao Da/chinadaily.com.cn]

A great many curators, experts, scholars, photography lovers, and collectors from home and abroad gathered in the city to celebrate the explorations of light and shadow.

Zhang Yue, a Chinese shutterbug who made a special trip to Lishui from Shandong province, said the festival was a stage to show the development status of photography in foreign countries, and a good opportunity for amateurs like him to appreciate top artists' works from home and abroad. Zhang thought the festival will also certainly have positive effects on the city through creating a cultural and artistic atmosphere for young children.

Xiandu Scenic Spot in Jinyun county, Lishui, Zhejiang province [Photo/VCG]

Lishui has organized the Lishui Photography Festival nine times since the first one in 2004. It has escalated into a photography festival with the largest-scale of exhibitions globally, and become an important cultural brand of the city.

Lishui, known as China's first ecological city, offers picturesque landscapes and a resplendent civilization, suitable subjects for a rich variety of photographic work.