Perhaps I am behind the curve on this one but I have only just come across Fotografiska.

Fotografiska was founded in 2010 by two Swedish brothers and photography entrepreneurs, Jan and Per Broman. Fotografiska is fast developing into a global brand. There are now exhibition spaces in Stockholm and Tallin Estonia. A new gallery will be opening in New York. There is also one planned for Whitechapel in east London later this year. Which is billed as the world’s largest photography gallery.

The business model is somewhere between commercial and not for profit, driven by ticket sales to exhibitions and memberships.

Fotografiska has no permanent collections but organises exhibitions that rotate through their various locations. The exhibition spaces are designed to be more than just a gallery. “People come to Fotografiska not only to see great photography but also just to hang out, and we want to bring everyone into the experience. The building, the location and the restaurant are essential to what we want to achieve” says Jan Broman.

Fotografiska London

London Fotografiska will be located in the lower ground floors of the eight-storey, former Aldgate Union building. Converted by Fletcher Priest architects into The White Chapel Building. Destined to be the cultural hub of Whitechapel, East London.

“In London,” Broman says, “we are not in competition with The Photographers’ Gallery or Tate Modern. As we just want to do our own thing in the way we know best. The East End of London is a fantastic area, but for us it was essential we found the right building so that we can do what we want.”

Check their website to pick up the latest buzz in contemporary photography. Personally I can’t wait to be wowed by their new gallery.

Camera Wrist Strap

I have avoided dropping my camera so many times using a simple inexpensive wrist strap like this one. Cameras and expensive lenses do not bounce!

UK

USA

 

As a photographer going to an exhibition by Don McCullin or Martin Parr is uplifting and inspirational. What though if you could see the best work from hundreds of great photographers in one place. That would be amazing, and that is what Photo London which is now on at Somerset House in London delivers. Art dealers from around the world, gather to sell prints from the best photographers in the world.

Collectors can be seen buying photography at phenomenal prices. Not yet quite the price of paintings by the greatest, but obviously photography is now a sound investment. It has taken a long time but photography is now part of the art mainstream, as demonstrated by the partnership of Elton John and David Furnish with the V&A. 

If you get a chance go to Photo London it is on for another couple of days

When I visited the Photography Centre at the V&A. I was looking forward to something different and exciting. A real celebration of photography. A national treasure trove of the very best images. However, I was disappointed. The V&A Photography Centre is just a museum space with photographs.

The Photography Centre

The V&A Photography Centre was opened earlier this month to celebrate the Royal Photography Society collection of photographs, joining the V&A’s national collection. Both these archives are massive, and it is very sad that this national collection is not available to view. So it is some consolation then, that the V&A have rescued around 600 objects, and they are on view at the gallery.

The V&A blurb boasts that the new galleries revolutionise the way photography is presented. So I was expecting more than two rooms in the corner of the V&A with pictures on the wall and cameras in glass cases. A lost opportunity, to be more off the wall.

I know the V&A is a museum, but does it have to devote so much of its’ limited space to the first hundred and fifty years of photography. The last 70 years of photography are when cameras became more portable, and new genres of photography were let loose. Although there was some extraordinary recent photography, Martin Parr and Linda McCartney included. There were walls devoted to early photographs, but no mention of a smartphone camera or social media. Lots of Brownies, but no Huawei or Instagram

The Future

This exhibition at least recognises the importance of photography, and the V&A Photography Centre is to be extended to twice the size by 2022. So it has time to change, and space to grow into.

Around 1.8 billion images are captured each day. So every two minutes we take more pictures than ever existed 150 years ago. Essentially that is the V&A’s dilemma.

 

Where I Buy

I buy my equipment from Wex because I have genuinely found that they offer great advice and customer service.

 

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.

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.