Exhibitions Archives

Martin Parr Manchester Art Gallery

Martin Parr Exhibition Manchester Art Gallery / John Gough / Sony a6300

Martin Parr went to college in Manchester and his early work is at an exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery. During his career, he has visited Manchester frequently and explored northern life. The result is a large body of work centred in and around Manchester. The Manchester Art Gallery recently commissioned him to create, ‘a portrait of the city and its people in 2018’.

The joy of this exhibition is that all this work is displayed in one big space, where there is room to look at the photographs and see the development of his distinctive style.

London Nights Exhibition

by John Gough

I mentioned recently that I had visited the London Nights exhibition at the Museum of London. Some of the images on show are amazing and encourage you to walk around your neighbourhood at night to see just what your camera can see.

This article in the British Journal of Photography showcases the exhibition, and a new FullBleed film produced in association with British Journal of Photography and the Museum of London, which explores the exhibition through the eyes of its curator and a selection of exhibiting photographers.

I, of course, loved the 50’s images with men in gaberdine macks, smoking on street corners under gas lights, but with over two hundred and fifty images from over sixty photographers, there is something for everyone.

Photo London

by John Gough

Photo London 2018 / John Gough / Sony a6300

I can understand if you are a photographer, you might consider Photo London which is currently at Somerset House in London, as being more for art connoisseurs, and photograph collectors. There are around 100 galleries from smart destinations from around the world, selling photographic artwork that is priced in the ‘I Saw You Coming’ bracket. However, any cynicism is blown away once you get inside, and witness the quality of the photography on show, and realise that photography that commands prices of many tens of thousands of pounds has to be stunning.

The conundrum that the exhibition poses is why when there are tens of millions of photographs taken every day (40 million are uploaded to Instagram each day) how is it that some command such value.

Many of the images are iconic from famous photographers. Who would not want a Terry O’Neill photograph of Jagger, Bowie or Micheal Caine? Who would not want a Martin Schoeller portrait?

However, there is also work from artists that we don’t all know. I was blown away by the abstract work of German photographer Andreas Gefeller especially his collection The Backside of Light [I don’t know whether something has been lost in translation here!] and if I had £14,500 to spare I could be tempted to buy one. NB limited edition of eight.

There is no denying that photography does not yet command the prices of some traditional art, and probably never will. However, the extent to which Photo London has grown in terms of the number of exhibitors, and standing in the art world, in the four years it has been in existence is amazing. There is now a real buzz around collecting photography which is hard to ignore.

If you want to get into the world of collecting photographs then the British Journal of Photography has put together an e-guide, The Beginners Guide to Collecting Photography which can be obtained here.

Photo London is on for just one more day.

2018 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition

by John Gough

Sony World Photography Awards / John Gough / Sony a6300

We consume so much of our photography online, that to go and see a magnificent photographic print is just a rare treat. For that reason, there is no bigger treat than the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition, which is on at Somerset House until May 6th. I just loved being immersed in such stunning photography room after room. I wanted some osmosis to occur where some of the talent that had gone to make up these pictures would just rub off on me.

We are fed the line as photographers that we should be able to make a photograph from any view, vista or situation. This is not always true. I would love to be able to get to the places in the world where some of these photographers had been, stand in their shoes, and look down my viewfinder and see what they saw. So the learning I took away was……….get yourself there.

Many of the pictures from the exhibition are here.

Some background…………

Vision Nine Contemporary Photography

by John Gough

Vision 9

Today I viewed the Vision 9 contemporary photography exhibition at the OXO Tower on the South Bank. Nine leading outdoor photographers are displayed showing seascapes, landscapes and abstract images.

Why go? My rationale is that it demonstrates the gap between the work I do and truly remarkable photography. If I have a personal mission, it is to close that gap.

The photographers exhibiting are:

Valda Bailey Doug Chinnery Cheryl Hamer Marianthi Lainas Astrid McGechan Beata Moore Paul Sanders

Richard Talibart Linda Wevill

The exhibition is on until the 15th April. Admission is free.

International Garden Photographer of the Year

by John Gough

IGOPTY at Kew Gardens.

An exhibition of last year’s winners of the IGPOTY is now at Kew Gardens and then a few other venues around the country. I went along today and there are some terrific images. This photography contest has become big business and is very popular. To get a winning image is a big deal, and the standard is to die for. The winning images are here.

Interesting how ‘creative’ so many of the winners are, and how plant photography drifts so seamlessly into abstract. Try to catch it.

Elliot Erwitt

by John Gough

Elliot Erwitt

At Huxley-Parlour, there is an exhibition of the work of Elliot Erwitt until Feb 17th. If like me you are a bit fuzzy about his photography, enter the gallery and walk straight ahead until confronted by a sublime portrait of Marilyn Monroe. Priced at between £4000 and £11,500 depending on the size, signed and a direct silver gelatin print from the original negative. You will be convinced you should buy it whether you can afford it or not.

I have collected some of the images in the exhibition here.

Erwitt was one of the first to join Magnum Photos in 1953 and was in the distinguished company of Capa, and Cartier-Bresson. Erwitt throughout his career carried a ‘hobby’ camera, a Leica M3 with a 50mm standard lens, loaded with Kodak Tri-X or Ilford HP4 film. He called these pictures his ‘snaps’, captured with humour, sarcasm and incongruity. He was a street photographer before the term was invented, just using the power of his own observation.

photography is an art of observation. It has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.

Elliot Erwitt

RPS International Photography Exhibition

by John Gough

Shoreditch Street Art / John Gough / Canon EOS 6D

I visited the RPS International Photography Exhibition this week and there were a lot of strong images on display. So strong I wished I had taken many of them. A high level of envy on my part, is sufficient criteria for a really stunning image.

The RPS International Photography Exhibition has been held almost every year since 1854. Now in its 160th year, it is the longest running exhibition of its kind in the world.

The RPS describes the exhibition as reflecting, ‘the varying interests and vibrant aesthetics of the photographic medium today, presenting work which demonstrates photographic skill and technique, alongside images exploring ideas and narratives rich in meaning and message. It encompasses single images and series work across all genres. The work is executed in many ways from alternative processes to contemporary approaches’.

The RPS it seems is becoming more and more pompous. A prime candidate for Private Eye / Pseuds Corner.

The Awards

The gold award went to Margaret Mitchell. Her winning entry is here. Her poignant environmental portraits of her sister’s children and others is part of a larger project, In This Place .

‘In This Place’ raises questions about choice—do we have choices in life, or are some predetermined and made for us?

Margaret took pictures of her nephew and two nieces as children, growing up in Stirling for a previous work called Family. More recently Margaret started photographing them again. Her sister’s children are now adults and have kids of their own. However their living conditions are the same, and it appears that the same outcome awaits each child. It is as if there were, some sort of self fulfilling cycle.

The silver award went to R J Kern. From this it is easy the current popularity of the environmental portrait. A glimpse of his exhibition The Unchosen Ones.

The Walk to the Station

The exhibition was at the Truman Brewery in Shoreditch, which was an excuse to walk the London streets with my camera. The street art is amazing.

Documentary Photographer of the Year

by John Gough

Lunch Break. John Gough Canon EOS6D

The Exhibition

I went along to the 2017 Documentary Photographer of the Year exhibition at Printspace in London this week. The exhibition is organised by the RPS Documentary Group. It was a bit thin to be honest, probably twenty five images, thirty at most. However, it was interesting to see how photographers had tackled a documentary subject in just five pictures.

Particularly impressive was the winner David Fletcher who’s photographs follows Ann, a New Forest commoner, and her purchase of eight calves in December. After a few weeks the calves began to fall ill and despite her efforts, and expense of the vet, only two calves survived the winter. The photographs were very moving, in just five images you sympathised with her plight and felt in there with her. See here.

The Street Walk

The Documentary Photographer of the Year exhibition was at Printspace in Hoxton London. So it was an opportunity to walk through the east end of London, down through the City to Blackfriars to catch the train home. The image above is just one of two keepers, from the 200+ shots taken on the trip with my Canon 6D. Still that 1% rule. If I take 100 pictures I am lucky to get one that is worth sharing.

Last night I listened to a talk by Tom Way a truly amazing wildlife photographer. His pictures were fabulous, because in my opinion he was not a naturalist taking pictures, but a photographer taking pictures of nature. He advocated putting your photographs away for two months and coming back to them to critique them. He put critiquing your own work as the number one photography skill. He looks for just twelve images a year! If I did that however I would probably be down to just 0.01%.

( Tom Way sells his work as fine art prints. This is just a note to myself about the paper and frame he uses)