Exhibiting.

Elaine Maria

Elaine Maria

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Elaine Maria
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I'm at the moment preparing for a joint exhibition. My class lecturer is very much pushing consistency and is suggesting that we keep more than one important element present in each of the ten images.
For example he has advised me to maintain a black background, multi-exposure, the same atmosphere and theme throughout the body of work.
Yet, when I look at professional photographer's exhibited work I don't see such blatantly obvious and plentiful common attributes , like for example you would rarely see ten images being exhibited with all the same background.

I would really like to hear others opinions on this.
I'm not against the idea of what he's suggesting, I'm just curious to see if it's a general consensus.

Thanks.
 
If this exhibition is part of a college course then I can only assume that they are trying to get you to be really creative. If you are a decent photographer then I suppose it's a lot easier to go out and shoot 10 decent images than it is to shoot 10 decent images with some kind of recurring theme.

Once you become an established professional you'll be able to exhibit whatever you want without any rules but for now your course tutor will be wanting to restric you to force you to think outside the box. It's not about the exhibiting, it's about really thinking hard about what images you are capturing.
 
Well...there's a thing about Photography Lecturers...if they were any good they'd be photographers...

Thing to remember that a College project isn't like a commercial (pro) photographer's exhibition - he or she will simply be exhibiting images that were comissioned or are a sample of personal work - maybe with a view to sales of that work.

You on the other hand have to impress a jaded bunch of academics who strive to think of something new to task you lot with each year so they don't all die of boredom...
Sounds to me like one of them just re-read the Red-Sofa Diaries - a pair of photographers travelled the globe in the '70's or '80's with a red sofa and photographed it and themselves in every possible location they could haul it to...my fave image was atop Machu Pichu - I've climbed that without a sofa on my back...nutters...

So yeah...a good idea...ish...
Similar backgrounds? pfft... so 1980's...
Think of an underlying theme - maybe something that's not even a visual element of the photos themselves - remember, a viewer's imagination can often be used to fill in what the eye doesn't see...
 
I've always thought that exhibitions should have a theme, whether that be all the same processing style, same colour, or just all at least BW.

Will be interesting to see what others say, also it would be great to see some examples as I've always struggled (though granted never tried hard enough) to keep a consitant theme in any of my photos.
 
Just to clarify. I'm not even in college yet, the degree course is next year.
This is a portfolio/exhibition course that I've paid alot of money for....
There are no rules and restrictions as such. The lecturer is there to guide and mentor and is by the way a very talented photographer.

Saying that though, I'm not treating this as some school project. This is a big deal for me. I've been working as an assistant for a while and alot of the people I've been working with will be coming to the show so I'd really be wanting to make a good impression....

Any advice?
 
grey.squirrel said:
I've always thought that exhibitions should have a theme, whether that be all the same processing style, same colour, or just all at least BW.

Will be interesting to see what others say, also it would be great to see some examples as I've always struggled (though granted never tried hard enough) to keep a consitant theme in any of my photos.
Click to expand...

I have a theme that's visually present in all the 10 images. That's something I'm sure should be present however i'm not so sure about the constant black blackground, multi-exposure and atmosphere.

You see I have my first image. Which he loved and is insisting I should keep the rest very very similar.
(You can find this image here; http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=175592)
 
Without having seen the image I would have said potentially follow your own thing (and probably shooting his style also..there's no harm doing both) but I then clicked on the link and can really see what the tutor is advocating. Imagine the next image being shot on a really light background - there'd be a big issue with the flow between the two images. It's not about the subject matter, it's about the style in which you shoot. That's the relationship that I think the tutor is talking about - your shooting style. Just my opinion. Cool shot by the way!
 
joodles said:
Without having seen the image I would have said potentially follow your own thing (and probably shooting his style also..there's no harm doing both) but I then clicked on the link and can really see what the tutor is advocating. Imagine the next image being shot on a really light background - there'd be a big issue with the flow between the two images. It's not about the subject matter, it's about the style in which you shoot. That's the relationship that I think the tutor is talking about - your shooting style. Just my opinion. Cool shot by the way!
Click to expand...

Thank you Joodles.
I was completely of two different minds about it but I agree with you on the flow issue...

More opinions most welcome and desired ;)
 
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