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  #11  
Old 28th October 2012, 12:14 PM
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ivanbpalli ivanbpalli is offline
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Lost of interesting and really helpful points to take into consideration, thanks a lot to everybody. I don't think I'll be able to show more than 20, maybe 25 images, and being all the same subject playing with sizes and grouping sets of pictures will be important to make the exhibition more visually interesting. which to be honest it's something I hadn't thought about before.

Thank again and I'll keep you posted.

Ivan
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  #12  
Old 28th October 2012, 07:15 PM
peterlg peterlg is offline
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hi Ivan,
a lot depends on the room, the space, the lighting, the walls/panes at your disposal. The couple of showings I've made turned out to be in less than optimal conditions and I realised too late that I should have adapted the format/size of my photos accordingly.
Peter
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  #13  
Old 6th November 2012, 09:00 PM
andybrown andybrown is offline
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Hi,
You have some really nice pics on flicker and I went off looking for something and came across something else! This quote of Stieglitz's to Paul Strand when Strand came to him to get some tips....What are you trying to say?
In that film about Stieglitz (on youtube!) he's talking about one of the wonderful shots of a horse and carriage in the snowy New York street and says he waited 3+ hours for the right moment. When he exhibited that shot, others said to him..it's blurred, the lighting is all wrong etc etc but he said he wasn't bothered about any of that. He wanted what we can see in the photograph (if we care to look!)

So, I would say have the courage of your convictions; print them , size them and show them as you would like to see them, not as you think others might like to see them.

There are a lot of very interesting shots there, you should be proud of them and any mistakes you might feel you've made in this show will only help you grow your vision for the next one.....and so on!

Good luck.

Andy.
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  #14  
Old 6th November 2012, 09:11 PM
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ivanbpalli ivanbpalli is offline
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Peter, you're absolutely right, I'll need to take into account where the prints will be exhibited, which makes things more difficult as I have no idea as yet...

Andy, thanks for your comments. I totally agree with you deep inside, and I've always strived to do what pleases me and to come up with work that I find worth showing. Still, one must be very brave to put aside all conventions and go with one's heart. I agree learning from your mistakes is definitely the only way of trully progressing, though.

Thanks a lot for your encouragement.

Ivan
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  #15  
Old 7th November 2012, 08:05 AM
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All the best with your exhibition pursuit Ivan. Find a gallery that gives you complete freedom to go with your hearts desire, there's plenty out there. Some will even offer free exhibition space, although this seems to be coming rare these days, the economy is making it tight all round.
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  #16  
Old 9th November 2012, 12:55 AM
Rob Hale Rob Hale is offline
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Hi All,

Interesting points of view. From a long away I think we have a much freer attitude, by which I mean that in the UK there seems to be a rather tethered view of what is “right and proper” that here in NZ we don’t suffer from, well mostly don’t suffer from.

From the selling angle I suspect that offering the buyer pictures of different sizes and different coloured frames and mounts gives the buyer the chance of finding something that suits their walls and their taste, which should increase sales, one might even offer special mounting, size and colour etc for a chosen image or hopefully images, for particular customers at a premium, prepaid price.

As to the “art” side, this is so personal I believe we should all chose the paper, toning, mounting that works for one’s self ( or particular friends or family ) and or don’t mount at all and use double sided tape to hold a print or prints on a wall or large easel with a large piece of hard board painted mat black, white or dove gray or any other colour ( those small tester pots of paint cover quite large bits of hard board if it is well primed ) one can an also double sided tape water colour paper of different hues on to the board and then stick a prints on to the paper. My current bit of hard board is mat black on one side and a sort of dove gray on the other and about 4 foot by 2 foot ( this was rescued from a picture of the SS Earnslaw on lake Wakatipu but I would make the next one much bigger ). It is interesting to note that a print on an easel looks quite different due to change in angle of the light striking the print.

I have noticed that the top art museums around the world tend to have a lot of diffused light where as the few London galleries I have been in the generally have harsh lighting which often does not suit the prints being lit.

Regards

Rob
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  #17  
Old 19th March 2013, 09:12 AM
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Steven Taylor Steven Taylor is offline
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A bit late to this conversation I'm sure Ivan's exhibition is either come and gone or is so committed that this won't help. Very interesting subject though and maybe my post will revive it.

If your sole reason for exhibiting is commercial, to sell prints or commissions, you will need to appeal to your prospects. Then you have to know who they are, what they like... Minefield.

If, however, you are exhibiting to communicate your vision, the whole picture is significant. Not just size, frame and mount colour but position as well. Grouping images, spacing, viewing height and even wall colour can all be signifiers to your intention. I think Minor White talked about the spaces between the images being as significant as the images.

Captions as well... to caption or not to caption, what you say, the font you use. Sequencing, what image goes first, most (not all) people read exhibitions from left to right, what image is last and how do you get there.

I would play with work prints, lay them out on the floor, sequence them, you'll find some that you have attachment to have got to go, others you didn't think were going to work help to make sense of the sequence. Hang prints at home or, if you can, at work and in your darkroom or garage or anywhere you will see them regularly. It's a great test as to whether an image has lasting appeal or if it's what Lewis Baltz calls a "lollipop".

Whether we realise it or not I believe we are making work because we have something to say. Planning an exhibition sometimes releases what it was we were saying all along. Then you have the words for your statement.
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  #18  
Old 26th March 2013, 10:47 AM
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ivanbpalli ivanbpalli is offline
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Steven, the exhibition it's still a long way in the future as uni and work takes most of my time these days. I hope after this summer I'll be able to push things a bit and see where I get. You make some interesting points. In terms of my intention behind the exhibition I guess it's both, a desire to show my work plus the wish to sell some of it, though I see the latter more as a practical thing to cover some of the expenses.
At the moment I've decided to keep shooting a bit more as I've found some of those lollipops you mention. Due to changes in availability of lithable papers I might need to re-interpret some of the photos I already have so that'll slow things a bit more. Still, the aim is to organize something this year, fingers crossed!

I'll keep you posted and thanks all!

Ivan
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  #19  
Old 27th March 2013, 11:28 AM
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Ivan - you're in Edinburgh. Far from it for me to promote other organisations, but a yearly sub to join Scottish Photographers might be money well spent. There are regular portfolio meetings (in Edinburgh and elsewhere) and a wealth of advice. A lot of members of SP are exhibiting photographers.
The site is here:
http://scottish-photographers.com/
Hope admin don't mind me mentioning it. I am a member, and I think the sub is money well spent.
Phil
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  #20  
Old 27th March 2013, 07:51 PM
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I don't think there is a problem mentioning them as there is a link to them in the Links section already.

Bill
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