So now that I’ve confirmed my participation in the Peoples Photography Exhibition 2009 I’ve been working on selecting photographs to display.
Based on my experience from last year it would take 20 photos printed at 20×30 cm or A4 to fill the display area. Now I have two choices, I can continue with A4 sized photos and select 20 or I could go up to A3 size and select maybe 12. Initially I had planned to go with the A3 option but reality kicked in. Since last year I have a box full of mounts, covers and envelopes all selected for A4 size prints. I bought too many last year and I have most of them left. It makes much more sense to just continue with the A4 size and make sure I display them correctly. I’m not going to make money on this exhibition, I’ll be lucky to sell any at all in the current market, in general most people sell none and only a few people sell more than 1.
Next I needed to decide which ones to display. Some are a mix of old ones some new from the last year. I’ve decided to be a little different and switch form color to black and white with lots of sepia. There are some that I really like, in fact there are several in sepia that I like much more than the original color image. In total I have sent 36 photos to the printers to get sample prints back. If I cant find 20 photos worth displaying from those 36 then I’m in trouble. People will like them or hate them but they are my choice and I like them. I want a display that stands out and one that people will remember.
Then I need to figure how how I want to hang the photos. There are rules about displaying art on St Stephens Green and last year my planned method was too likely to damage the railings so I had to change and use string instead. Just getting the string and mounts level took over an hour every morning. I’m not doing that this year. Some frame of or netting seems to be the best choice so I have to work exactly what I will do.