A great deal of anticipation and excitement in the field is reportedly being generated by the upcoming 2021 Lishui Photography Festival, which is scheduled to be held on Nov 5-9 in the city of Lishui in East China's Zhejiang province.

A total of 6,013 exhibits from more than 120 countries and regions will be shown during the event, with the number of submissions trebling that of the previous festival.

They include original works from pioneers William Henry Fox Talbot, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and other international photography legends and masters and works from a group of influential photography artists from around the world.

This year's festival has attracted the participation of more than 20 international professional bodies and more than 100 universities and colleges from home and abroad, including Yale University, New York University and Tsinghua University.

A nature-themed photography contest – the Global Environment Protection Photography Contest in 2021 – was a curtain-raiser for the photography festival and concluded on Oct 8.

The contest – which was held for the first time – received over 120,000 entries from around the world, celebrating the beauty of nature. A total of 70 entries in six categories – mammals, amphibians, plants and fungus, birds, insects and humans in nature – won a prize and will be exhibited in the upcoming festival.