The National Library of Wales will spend this month highlighting the work of Welsh photographers, including Guy Hughes from Pwllheli.

Under the tile Focus on Photography, the library will celebrate the photographic history of Wales across social media platforms, and will also hold two “fascinating” talks providing deeper insight into Welsh photography and its photographers.

Each week, Focus on Photography, which started on 14 October and runs until 9 November, will present a new theme for the images to focus on.

William Troughton, curator of photography at the library, and his colleagues are excited to share their extensive photography collection with the people of Wales.

William said: “This is the National Collection of Welsh Photographs. It belongs to the people of Wales and I want them to enjoy their photographic heritage, whether through or website or even better by coming to the library.”

The library houses over 1.2 million photographs connected to Wales, including a daguerreotype of Margam Castle by Rev Calvert Richard Jones.

Taken in 1841, two years after the invention of photography, this daguerreotype – the first publicly available photographic process – is the earliest recorded photograph in Wales.

Since Calvert’s daguerreotype, photographers across the country have continued to document Wales’ journey, both locally and internationally.

During the first week of the month the library will cast its attention outwards as it focuses on photography of international importance.

Born in 1936, Phillip Jones Griffiths travelled to over 120 countries, documenting the world. Most famously, he produced the book Vietnam Inc in 1971 which is described as “one of the most detailed surveys of any conflict”.

Out of all the countries Phillip travelled to, it is thought he felt a special connection to Vietnam.

William told the Cambrian News that Phillip saw parallels between his home country of Wales and Vietnam, and produced Vietnam Inc as a sympathetic “in-depth of Vietnamese culture under attack.”

This week will also look at the likes of J R Harding, an engineer who travelled the Far East for many years, and T Ifor Rees, the first ambassador to Bolivia.

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