I’ve spent some time today updating my website. Simple changes some new and updated photos and a new navigation bar to improve integration with this blog. The navigation bar should be easy to configure but Apple’s iWeb insists on limiting access to how the page navigation works. In the end I had to create a new navigation bar using a text box. I think it looks better than the original one but it will now need to be managed on each page. Fortunately I don’t plan on having more than a handful of pages so the solution will work for me but if Apple is planning on updating iWeb some time soon giving users more control over the navigation bar would be great.

Another step on the road to Peoples Photography. As soon as I have finalised the 20 photographs that I will display at the exhibition I will add a new album to show them.

The slots for Peoples Photography have been announced and I’ve moved from 376 last year to 70 this year. Granted my bump up the list was aided by the fact that I’ve been helping out with the organisation and have been running the new website. Still I’m delighted to be on the North side of the Green where more people will see my photos. If you are around Dublin on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th August you should walk around St Stephens Green and see some great photography on display from all the photographers.

Ok, so my 36 prints from a couple of weeks ago produced maybe 7 photos that were up to scratch. Woops! Another print run went in, this time with 40 photos which included fixes for some from the previous run and a bunch of new photos that I worked on. That produced a much better set of prints. I now have 18 of my 20 and 3 new photos from the last 2 weeks that might make the might make the cut are in the printers now.

I still have to figure out how I will hang the photos but the good news there is that I have to put up a post on the Peoples Photography site with information on how to hang photos with information from other organisers so hopefully once that is done I’ll have a clearer idea of what I’ll do.

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.

The list of exhibitors for Peoples Photography 2009 has been published. Have a look and if you sent in an application confirm your  name is on the list. The space allocations should be posted by the end of next week.

Another meeting was held on Peoples Photography 2009 this week. A smaller turn out than expected so it’s been rescheduled, there is just too much for a small number of people to organise and keep running year on year. Hopefully more people will show up next week so things can be fully set in motion. Still it looks like the updated website is almost ready to go, just needs to be approved by all involved and uploaded. Already the applications are pouring in so the website looks like it wont be needed to do much more than publish everyones spots since everyone seems to know the event is on again this year. If you want to take part you need to apply soon.