THIS year’s Bright Festival of Photography (BFOP) is going to be hard to top, with the Aurora Australis making a return to southern skies for the event.

BFOP co-organiser Matt Krumins said this year’s event was by far the biggest and most successful yet, with 550 entrants.

“We had amazing weather for the weekend which helped, almost unseasonably hot weather which was nice but still with some clouds in the mountains,” he said.

“Another highlight from a weather perspective is we saw one of the best aurora we’ve seen in years.

“All our landscape workshops of the mountains were that night and the aurora was visible from town.

“We may not be able to top that next year.”

The festival saw 50 more entrants than last year, hailing from Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and the first international visitor from the United States.

Attendee, Craig Ayliffe, highly recommended the event to budding and experienced photographers.

"First BFOP in 2024; what an experience,” he said.

“You get to meet like minded photographers, do a wide variety of photo workshops and stay in a lovely little town of Bright.”

Second time participant, Anne Szczepanski, said it was the “most awesome” photography festival.

“It has amazing workshops, the community spirit from like minded people is just fantastic,” she said.

“The only problem you will have is choosing from the variety of workshops that are on offer.

“The instructors are so knowledgeable and so generous with their time at each workshop you will come away with new ideas, and tools to improve your photography.

“I cannot wait for 2025.”

Mr Krumins said the friendship and camaraderie was always a highlight.

“Friday night was an event night and we had fire twirling performers, LED hoop performers in a forested path under coloured lights and music,” he said.

“It was a really immersive experience and it all came together as a big festival vibe with lots of photo opportunities of course.

“Our demographic may not come across this kind of experience so that’s another part of our event; the joy of experiencing things you don’t usually get access to.

“Dates for next year went live last Sunday and we’ve already sold over 50 per cent of tickets in the first five days.

“All our brands and instructors have signed on for next year so it’s very exciting for us.”