Hello!:) Some of my friends knew that I had my group photo exhibition in October 2019, yet I didn't have a chance to make a post about it. So here it is:) A little late, I know, but life keeps me busy and I must adapt to it. It was on for the whole month and beautifully curated by one of my Finnish friends Soile Ukkonen, another photographer also taking part in this exhibition. The theme and a name for it translates as "Photographs and Colours of Life", therefore I chose my works to be the most memorable to the viewer and with a lot of colour in them - this way I wanted to make them pop up amongst other works and stay in people's memories, because this is what for people will go to photo exhibitions in anyway.
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| Photo exhibition flyer by Soile Ukkonen for Taarasti gallery in Finland, Nastola |
Photo
exhibition took place in a beautiful large space of Taarasti gallery
and when I first saw it, I literally fell in love with it. Everything
was perfectly put on the walls (thank you, Soile!), making a very
harmonious set with each different photographer completing the whole
picture in a beautiful & stylish way. It also had a nice opening on 3rd
October, where I went to with one of my best and longest known friends. I
then wanted to come there again for a second time, but that time with my parents, who were very proud of me & my photographic
achievement, since I didn't do such large exhibitions in the past. I'm
not a big fan of group shows and insisted I wouldn't do one before, but
since this was in my friend's hands, I trusted her intuition and was
very happy myself with how all came to place in the end.
What I learned from preparing myself for this exhibition, is that you shouldn't try to create a perfect set, when you were invited to take part in one just few weeks before it started:D I literally had to do a compromise with myself, where one part of me wanted to print larger works and then sell them as limited edition prints, but framing and printing would cost me a fortune and just for one month show in a smaller town and without any idea, whether any of it will really sell, because there were others photographers works too on display, it was not worth polishing my exhibition material too much, so I just printed them on a foam board as normal photography prints and because of their slightly shining finish and no frames they looked gorgeous and very modern and easy to look at. Framing and printing obviously requires more time for testing and planning, than just few weeks (and if we consider ordering and shipping time, we run out of that time) and since I trusted my supplier, all was done perfectly in time and the finish was exactly how I wanted them to be, so I was happy. Nobody's works sold, which was sad, but this way I saved my money, compared to the situation where I would be, if I did print my works in a professional lab after multiple testing until I was truly satisfied, on the expensive paper in large size and had to customize frames to my set. It was definitely a teaching experience from a photographer point of view too, because you must challenge yourself to produce a body of work, which you are not afraid to show to many other people, and preparing your bio and constantly supplying your contact person with all kinds of information and digital files related to your works. +Because we only had few weeks to do it, it was a lot of stress, so it is very helpful, if you already have that kind of material (written biography, self-portrait etc.) somewhere in a close reach, even when you travel, so I encourage all of you, who plan to do exhibitions, take part in interviews and articles and other media related situations to have a stored information about you and your body of work, so you can copypaste and send it out easily, as sometimes we are all busy and managers need it from you asap. In other words, plan well and prepare all beforehand, if you can, so when it's time to do it, you will already know, where will you print, in what format/size, what works are going there and why (selection is a pain, I tell you) and the exact number of prints (as you will certainly need to write a list of the names/titles and year of production, your description etc.) and also for which price you are willing to sell them, so you can cover your expenses, and how will the transportation work for them, will you need an insurance and will you have enough time to take photos and videos of the show itself, so you can use these images later in your own marketing and on your website and so on. Overall try to focus on the theme and create your own schedule, so even if your prints won't arrive in time or will not be of the perfect quality you want, you would still have other options to go to a local lab and try to print them again, so you won't miss the show and attend it with works you can be proud of. — Best, VL
P.S. If you have any questions and/or need help in planning your exhibition, let me know in the comments and I will try to make another blog post about it:) — Yours 💜, Veronica Lounge / Photographer & Editor of Lounge & Lifestyle.
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