The transformation of the Ipswich Waterfront into an outdoor photography gallery begins this week as familiar landmarks, including the former Burtons Mill and the Winerack, prepare to host the work of internationally and locally renowned photographers for the second PhotoEast Festival.

Over the Bank Holiday weekend (May 26-28), a programme of exhibitions and events offers something for everyone with an interest in photography.

• On Saturday May 26, talks by industry renowned photographers including Mark Power, Tom Hunter, Sian Davies and Michael Collins will take place at the University of Suffolk’s Waterfront Building. Academics from the University will also be hosting a series of talks entitled ‘Approaches to Landscape’. Places for all the talks are free but advance registration is recommended at www.photoeast.co.uk.

• The BA (Hons) Photography degree show by students at the University of Suffolk will be on display in the foyer of the University’s Waterfront Building over the weekend and throughout the month of the festival. Also on display will be the graduate exhibition by Photograd, curated by former University of Suffolk student Melissa Belton, and the work of PhotoEast Young People’s Fellowship winners.

• New for 2018, an Instagram Open Call around the festival theme #ibelong18 attracted over 2,500 entries from photographers, professional and amateur, from close to home and further afield. All are available in an on-line gallery at www.photoeast.co.uk and 50 of the best have been selected by Fiona Shields, Head of Photography at The Guardian for the On The Fence exhibition on the Waterfront, on view throughout the festival.

• Mark Power’s The Shipping Forecast heads the bill at the University’s Waterfront Gallery as an ode to the BBC’s eponymous radio broadcast and a uniquely British institution. The haunting images take us to the places behind the familiar names – Biscay, Viking, German Bight – and serve as a physical reminder of our isolated, island existence.

• A Global Family Trail on the Waterfront will keep the younger ones happy with prizes for the first 100 entries and the chance to win a family studio shoot with Mark Palmer Photography, Framlingham worth over £500. A photobooth in a 1980s French fire-engine, a camera obscura offering a stunning panorama of the Ipswich Waterfront from the Waterfront Building and PhotoCopy Club (booking required) all have teenage appeal.

• At DanceEast, photography meets dance in a specially choreographed installation Carte Postale, by Tim Casson and Halesworth-based photographic artist Bill Jackson, which runs throughout the day on Saturday 26th. Look out for the public rehearsals for this ‘dancing postcard’ all about Ipswich taking place around the town in the run-up to PhotoEast.

• Further along from La Tour Cycle Café, is A Great British Welcome which tells the stories of refugees who have been welcomed into the homes of families across Europe. The project is part of a wide series by photographer Aubrey Wade and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. The exhibition includes the Goldhill family from Cambridge who have hosted Faraj, 21, a refugee from Syria since 2016.

• The People’s History, Julian Germain’s photographic homage to Ipswich Town’s FA Cup Final win in 1978, will be on show at Quay Place throughout the month-long festival. The exhibition will come alive on Sunday 27 May at 3pm, when players, photographers, fans and guests join Julian at DanceEast for a special commemorative event. (Tickets available at www.Danceeast.co.uk).